On the Road
by duke21
Summary: When the remains of a woman thought to have disappeared turn up, the team look into the 1982 case of a roadie who was way in over her head in the glamorous world of rock and roll. Some Lilly x Scotty. 8x02
1. Chapter 1

_**THE FOLLOWING STORY IS FICTIONAL AND DOES NOT DEPICT ANY ACTUAL PERSON OR EVENT**_

_**May 18**__**th**__** 1982**_

_["Stone in Love" by Journey]_

_The warm air rolled over the suburban houses of Philadelphia. The peaceful demeanour that fell upon them seemed to indicate that things moved at their own fairly tranquil pace. The people who pranced about in this neighbourhood seemed to have it made. All the smiles on their faces implied that nothing could ever go wrong and they were right. It was as safe as any suburban setting could have been._

_Whilst that might have been preferable for some, there were a few who could not confine themselves to this life._

_She was irrefutably bored out of her skull. The only real thing that Delores Rafferty had going for her life was looking after the man who she had promised herself to. Still, there was something about it that just seemed off to her. What would her mother think if she were to see her sit idly as life just passed her by day by day? She could hear the voice in her head right now, spout of something like carpe diem or some other nonsensical trash she had picked up from a magazine. _

_Delores paid a smile to those she passed as she walked up the drive and into her home, the enriching smiles of those around her making her feel more vulnerable right now. When did she sign on the dotted line for this kind of life? _

_An exasperated sigh left her lips as she walked through the front door, the cool breeze wafting over her almost too much to bear. Poking her tongue to the side of her mouth she began to scour through the house, letting the light rock music fill up each and every room with each door she opened. Finally she found her feet tracking back to the bedroom that she shared with the man she was set to marry. Giving a soft smile she gave a light-hearted saunter into the room knowing full well this would not be like most talks they had._

_The looming feeling of boredom was something that had been on her mind for a while now and realistically all she wanted was to go out in pursuit of something more. Opportunities dwindled as she grew older and she felt like she had little time left to experience the life she truly wanted. _

_Upon seeing her face light up the room, Michael turned to face Delores, his own smug smirk in return. Without missing a beat, he patted on a spot on the bed where he wanted her to lay with him. Some might have called it old-fashioned by this point but Michael had always been the domineering kind in his own relationships._

"_Hey Love…" Michael spoke, his words soft and smooth as they had always been._

_With a deep sigh, Delores took a few more steps towards the bed. "Michael, we need to 'ave a talk." She practically winced as the accent flew out from her but at the same time Michael had addressed the slip with a casual smile/ It was like he didn't expect her to have much to say and quite honestly, it boiled her up quite a bit. "Aren't you bored of this life Michael?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest as she stood over Michael._

_The expression that he gave her was pretty much his response. That abstract confusion that followed his each and every look. Why would he think that anything was wrong. This was practically his own idea of paradise and nothing she could say or do would tear that away from him._

_Knowing that this type of thinking could not be cured by belittling her, Michael arose from the bed and stood at the opposite end in hopes that he could talk some sense into her. "Why would I be bored of this. I have the perfect girl, we're going to have a family, we have our future all planned out… just like we wanted." Smiling softly as he went, he couldn't help but add "Is this about Julie Kavanagh again?"_

_The mood in the room changed immediately. Normally Delores would have been fine with this but right now she was just so pissed at the fact that he would even bring this up._

"_I'm trying to talk to you about something serious and you bring up Julie Kavanagh? The hell is wrong with you?" She fumed, refraining from cursing. If she wanted to she could have chewed him up seventeen different ways and back again but what would that accomplish. She extended her finger and pointed him out, coming around the bed as she did so. "I've given up everything to be with you and I just want you to acknowledge the fact that I shouldn't have to feel this bored with the man who I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with."_

_Placing both of his sturdy, firm and assuring hands on her shoulders Michael locked into her gorgeous green eyes. He always did find it kind of sexy when she wanted to take charge and yell at him as if he had done something wrong. Brushing a few strands of her blonde hair out of her face he retorted simply with "Who said you had to give anything up?"_

_Frowning at the way he was looking at her now, Delores reinforced how she felt by tapping her foot against the ground at a quickened pace. "Please Mike, you're parents already look at me like I'm some piece of trash that crawled out of the gutter" Again, she let a soft sigh escape her lips. Quietly, she wrapped her arms around Michael's waist which just egged on his smile to flourish into a grin. "You know I'm starting to think that the life I wanted two years ago might not be the life I want now."_

_Almost instantly Michael pulled back. He looked like he'd just been told that she wanted his head on a pike. She'd never forget this face; a mixture of disgust and alienation. _

"_Come on Michael, we were kids way back when we made those promises to each other. You can't honestly tell me that nothing has changed for you. This can't be everything that you want. I refuse to believe it" She shot across at him, pacing the room as if trying to justify her own actions whilst trying to think of perfect counterpoints to any points that he would have made. It would take more than words from a man she loved to fix this. "Remember when we would sneak out and go listen to bands… bang our heads off the walls and just have fun… I want that"_

"_For Christ sake Delores…" Michael almost spat back, a clear sense of anger rising up in his throat. "You're goddamn nearly in your thirties. Start acting like it…" _

_Shaking her head with a smile, Delores turned her back on Michael. They both knew that this would be the end of this argument for now but if Michael truly knew her then he knew that this was not going to be the last time that he heard about this._

_Turning her head, she crossed her eyebrows and gave Michael quite a disapproving look._

"_You can't keep me caged forever…" Delores spoke, walking away. "A caged birds gotta fly and you can bet that's what I'm gonna do"_

_No more words were exchanged between the pair as Michael looked at his fiancée with a deadly glare and Delores simply walked on without so much as pausing to take a quite breath. As peaceful as things in the neighbourhood were, nothing that happened behind closed doors was ever what it seemed to be._

* * *

_A few hours after "Metal Dragons" had finished their set, rain began pounding hard down onto the ground. Due to the torrential rain pour, most of the workers had resolved back to their busses to begin work on dismantling the stage for tomorrow. It was standard practice for people in their profession and whilst they would have to work quickly tomorrow, they would do a hell of a lot better in the light._

_What people fail to notice however is the body of a young woman lying center stage. Delores Lafferty lies lifeless and sprawled out, her body covering a guitar which had been slung over her shoulder. A few feet away, a chair that had been left behind was strewn to the floor, covered with blood from the altercation that had just taken place_

* * *

It had already been a long night for Lily Rush and so to be out here right now was more than she really wanted. Most nights she would have went straight home but with this being the first Friday of the month, First Thursday's had taken their own priority over her regular schedule. She was sure to pick up a coffee for herself. The faint sound of machinery assured Lily that she was closing in on where she needed to be. The boss had called her out for something at a landfill in Philadelphia and knowing what she did about landfills, she could only assume it was a work related kind of thing.

As the car came crawling to a halt behind the small police barricade that had been set, Lily sighed at the thought of yet another dump job that would prove to be almost impossible to nail down. Slowly rising from her car with two cups of coffee, she quickly caught up with Scotty and gave him one of the cups. Normally such a thing would have gone unnoticed but judging by the way Stillman was looking at Lily, he had caught the connotations behind it.

Honestly, not even Lily was sure what she was doing right now.

Blurring the thought from her mind, she took a gracious sip of her coffee before bursting into a mild pace to where Stillman was. Giving him a quick nod she gave her always clear "What's the deal boss."

Chuckling to himself lightly, he waved his hand in the direction of several crime scene techs who were looking over the evidence. "Looks like we got a cold one, that's what the deal is." With all three detectives closing in on the body, it was clear that time had worn the flesh down and now the only thing left was bone.

A cold one was right. The body must have been lying here for a while if it managed to have all the flesh strip away from it. Without even pausing for a thought, she tracked Frannie Ching. Nice to know that there was going to be a familiar face in it for them this time. Giving a polite smile, she nodded at the woman as she clambered closer to get a good look at what they were working with.

"Hey Rush" Frannie spoke, facing her for a moment before turning back to document a few more pictures of the body.

Squatting down next to Frannie, she bobbed her head to the side, hoping to stay out of the other woman's way for the time being. "Hey. What we got Frannie?" she spoke, rubbing her temple lightly in hopes of absolving herself from this minor head pain. Maybe no one would notice too much.

Judging from the tone of Frannie's chuckle it seemed as though she had caught on. "Rough night?" she asked. Honestly, no answer was needed here but the mere notion of asking the question helped to satisfy her. Turning back forward and facing the bones in front of her. "She's a woman… I know that much and it looks like is that her skull is pretty bashed in. Something hard definitely came up and surprised her" she added as she pulled the skull down a bit to show that the back of the head had almost caved in entirely.

Without taking a second look, Lily could only assume that whoever did this had a lot of rage in them. Fracturing the skull slightly was one way to kill someone but this just seemed so overkill. At least it gave them some partial insight as to who they were looking for. "Got any idea of how long she's been down here" Lily asked as one of the crime scene techs came over and showed her something with writing on it.

"From the looks of it, my best guess would be thirty, maybe forty years tops." Turning she walked towards the evidence the crime scene tech was displaying to Lily. "What struck me as odd was that she had this guitar draped around her neck."

Lily inspected the guitar a little more closely, seeing something scrawled down on the bottom left hand corner. "What is that… 'Metal… Dr-'"

"'Metal Dragons,' pretty much Philadelphia's finest rock group back in the day" Scotty spoke as he came crawling up to the investigation with a coffee in his hands. Smirking for a moment he squatted down next to the guitar. "These guys were legends, so much so that they had their band name carved onto their instruments."

Lily raised a brow at Scotty. This certainly was something to behold from him. Quite frankly she didn't know her partner well enough to know what kind of music he listened too but she never assumed him to be the classic rocker type of guy. Clearing her throat she brushed her hand along the carving. "Don't suppose any of the Band Member's went missing in the 70's or 80's?"

Scotty gave a little thought into the question raised, looking back over at the body as if it would give him some sort of clue as to who she was. After a few moments of thought, he snapped his fingers. "Back in the days, 'Metal Dragons' had a guitar tech. The story is that she just upped and vanished. Most people just assumed she had gotten really tired of being in a business where people look down on you all the time." Scotty spoke as he rose to his feet once more. "Delores something…"

"Lafferty" Stillman confirmed, climbing up to meet the rest of his team. "Went missing in '82. Fiancé at the time called it in thinking something bad had happened but was talked away because there was no evidence to say she was dead or even missing."

Lily frowned, taking a gentle step closer. "Well maybe it's about time her fiancé got some answers about this whole mess"


	2. Chapter 2 Part 1

The bullpen as always was bustling with the activity of the other detectives going about their duties. Those who didn't work with the cold squad scurried to their own desks, some carrying what looked to be fairly important files. It was the typical setting for Lilly, Scotty and the rest of the team as they carried on working round their own desks, waiting for someone to bring up the missing person's report that the fiancé had filed.

It was so disheartening to hear about. The fact that one minute the person you love was here with you and the next they'd just gone up and vanished. She supposed it was worse with the knowledge that her fiancé had no idea of whether she was dead or alive. To be kept in the dark about whether or not someone was purposely trying to avoid you would have left a bitter taste in most people's mouth. Perhaps now they could get some answers for him. Truthfully it seemed like he had been waiting long enough for answers to show up.

Caught in her own thoughts, she had not noticed that Scotty had approached her with a wide smirk planted across his face. All she could do was raise an eyebrow. What the hell was that grin all about. It never dawned on her that Scotty had caught sight of the bags that hung low under her eyes.

"Good night last night?" Scotty asked, his hands placed firmly in his pockets as his smug smile just grew wider with each passing moment of silence.

How could she even answer that without revealing too much? The thought itself was enough to want to make Lilly force her eyes away through the sheer embarrassment of it all. Surely he couldn't have been all that innocent. After all, there was that incident in Knoxville a few years back. The thought of it was enough to make her frown internally but keep a composed smile on her face.

Instead of dignifying his response with the truth, Lilly felt that it was all within bounds to tease around it a little. Maybe she could get some reaction here. "I'll let you know when this drumming in my head stops" she spoke, a grin curling onto her own face. Honestly she wasn't all too sure about why she cared about what he thought. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she expected her partner to actually not only trust her judgement but also the fact that if there was ever a shred of doubt in his mind then the friendship that they had built over the years could have tumbled fairly easily.

Scotty merely shook his head whilst playing with the grin on his face. Clearly there was something there he should dig into later but for the time being he let it slide.

Rolling over to his own desk, he opened the middle drawer and pulled out a small bottle. Within the space of a few seconds he now stood in front of Lilly's desk once more with a bottle in hand. "Asprin?" he asked, shaking the bottle in her general direction. Scotty knew how it felt to do this job with a killer headache/hangover looming over you every step of the way.

Without even uttering a response, Lilly held out her hand in hopes that Scotty would catch her drift. Undoing the lid, he let a few slide into her hand, only to be met with a rather worrisome look from Lilly. Had he done something wrong?

"You can leave the bottle here for now" she responded, rubbing her temple slightly as she tried to make some sense of her thoughts.

All Scotty could really do was laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation. He'd come back to question her more a little later if she was up for it, even if part of him was screaming to back off and give her room.

The whole room came back to the attention of what was important when Kat came into the bullpen with the missing person's report in her hand, waving it all over as if signalling everyone to huddle up. Without needing to be told, the detectives crowded around the central desk of the room in a muddled order.

"Took me a while but I was able to find the missing person's report that was filed for Delores Lafferty" Kat beamed towards the rest of the squad. From the expressions on her face alone, it looked like she had restrained herself from taking a peek inside. Not that it would have done much good though. "Thing barely looks like it's worth the paper. Detectives back in '82 must have thought of this as just another one of those things."

Planting the file on the desk, the thing barely looked like it was more than a couple of pages thick.

Stillman was the first to pick up the file and take a gander inside. After a few moments of scratching his chin out of trying to make sense of it all he flipped the file shut again. "I doubt we're going to get much from this. Her fiancé at the time, Michael Ramirez, listed her missing when she stopped writing letters back to him in the summer of '82. By that point the band was already getting set up for their tour across the country."

Nick raised a questionable eyebrow. "Are you telling me that this girl never made it out of the city with this band."

Before Stillman could even give his own analysis on the situation, Scotty felt something rise in him that caused him to spout off all he knew.

"Back in '81 and the beginning of '82 these guys were relatively unknown…" Drumming his fingers across the desk and looking down at the small picture of the victim that had been placed delicately into her file he gave a soft smile. "September of 1982 was when they were gonna go on their first U.S tour. Letters apparently stopped in late August. That's a good window"

Stillman nodded as he looked towards Scotty. "Gives us a couple of weeks when she's unaccounted for so it could very well be Delores Lafferty that we stumbled upon…" With weary eyes he looked towards Scotty once more. "That is unless you have something else to add." Normally it was unlike him to ever take attitude with anyone but the fact that Scotty had the leg up on this case really stuck with Stillman. Couple that on with the interactions that his detectives had this morning and it was clear to see why Stillman felt like taking this approach was necessary.

Instead of uttering a response back, Scotty simply shrugged his shoulders. Honestly he found it a tad odd that Stillman was giving him the cold shoulder but he rolled with it for the time being.

For the first time in a while, Jeffries took a tentative approach. "Well we don't have much about this case. No murder weapon. No crime scene. Not all that much evidence to work with."

Jeffries was right. Normally when they had a cold case they at least had something to work with that would direct the case. The only thing worth noting was her fiancé at the time and maybe the surviving members of the band if there were any left. Maybe following them would give them a few new leads, maybe open a few more doors that the team could go through.

Stillman looked across his team for a moment, thinking things through. "Lilly, take Nick and find this fiancé of hers. Maybe he can give us something that we missed back in the day. Scotty I need you to dive in and find anywhere that 'Metal Dragon's' were playing whilst they were in Philly. Kat and Jeffries, see what you can do about tracking down everyone who might have been involved in the preliminary investigation" Looking at the case a little more he followed up his instructions with one to himself. "I'll see what I can do about bulking this up a bit."

Not wanting to create a fuss right now, Scotty bit down on his bottom lip. Surely it would benefit this case if he was on the front lines. He understood why he had been stuck behind a desk, but it just felt so bittersweet in knowing the most about the case and being forced to go through the evidence that had yet to be gathered. Slowly, almost in a lurch like manner, he sulked off to his desk in hopes that he could come up with something that was productive to the case.

The way that this neighbourhood looked now to how it looked back in the eighties would have been enough to give anyone a shock. It wasn't that the houses or even the street was in a bad way, but it was that the bright disposition that had been a staple of this part of time seemed to have died over time to the point where most of the occupants were older couples. The houses themselves looked like they were going along with the progression of time as the paint that layered the outside most of the porches had started to chip away leaving patchy shades of brown surrounded by the clerical look of white everywhere.

All in all though it still looked like a decent neighbourhood, like the type of place you would raise a kid if you could. Lilly was already starting to picture most of these houses back when they had first been built in the late seventies. After driving further up the road, the car started to turn in.

"Looks like we found the place" Nick stated as he looked on a house which had clearly seen better days. Out of all the other houses on the street, this one seemed to be more well-kept and looked after. Even then, it still looked like this house was the one that needed the most work. It was a shame that things had come to this but Lilly supposed it was all part of coping and moving on, to try and replace the memories of your old life with new ones.

It didn't take Vera more than a few seconds to climb out of the front seat of the car, but Lilly waited behind for a few minutes more, trying to take it all in.

Stepping out, she moved around the car, sharing a look with Vera for a split second before nodding. It was never the easiest part of the job to tell someone the bad news but this simply could not wait much longer. Taking the few steps up the porch, Lilly knocked on the door lightly and waited. A few seconds later Nick waited by her side. Obviously he was taking things at his own little pace right now and to be quite honest it grated Lilly slightly. He could have shown a little bit of respect right now. Then again, this type of stuff had never been the strong suit of Vera.

After ten or so seconds of standing outside in the brisk autumn weather, the door opened to reveal a rather stern looking man. Most of his features appeared fairly sharp; his hair was kept to a rather buzz cut like fashion, his nose seemed to prick down in the centre and his overall stance seemed to suggest annoyance. His eyes were the only slight indication that he didn't feel this way. His eyes instead seemed to be filled with a sense of tiredness.

"Michael Ramirez?" she asked, simply waiting for confirmation. In her head she knew his response and so to try and save as much time as possible she interjected. "I'm Detective Rush and this is Detective Vera, we're with Philadelphia homicide."

For a moment the man stood there stunned, almost in disbelief that murder detectives were at his doorstep right now. Even if he were to think about it, he would have never have guessed the reason as to why they were here. Michael supposed the best idea would be to just be frank with the detectives right now. Stepping out of his doorway, he ushered a hand to the side to guide them inside. "Please detectives right this way…" Once inside, Michael paused for a moment before closing the door and putting nervous hands into his pockets. "What is this about?"

"You reported Delores Lafferty missing in the Summer of '82?" Nick questioned, just trying to get the details right.

There was a short pause, as if Michael had added up all the pieces together in his head in the fraction of a second. The mere thought of it made him want to break down. Still, somehow he managed to keep it pulled together. There was no use in crying; it would not change anything that had already happened. "When…?" was the only word that left his lips.

Lilly frowned slightly, taking a steady step forward. "A body has turned up and we believe with the timeline that she might have died some point before September of 1982."

Without any warning, Michael slammed his fist into the wall; not enough to do any damage but enough to show the anger that was bubbling deep down inside of him. It was clear that this was a sore subject for him, but as Lilly looked around the room it was plain to see that this anger had just risen up in the first time in years. With the amount of pictures of family that hung from the walls it seemed to be clear that Michael had since tried to move on from Delores. Perhaps he had managed to be successful in his own endeavour to move on.

Turning to face the detectives, Michael broke into a frown. "She should not have been there… no way, no how." Even from the minimal conversation it seemed pretty clear that Michael was the domineering kind of person and it would have taken something great to just let Delores have her own thought of freedom. There had to be something more here. "How did she… How did she die?"

"Well Mr Ramirez, we're still trying to figure that one out ourselves. We're just here to ask a few questions to kick start the investigation. Try to get to know Delores." A smile cracked Lilly's features for a moment as Vera had been preoccupied by one of the pictures that hung from the wall. Something like a family photo of Michael and his new wife on their honeymoon. "What can you tell us about Delores and the work she got involved in?"

Swallowing hard Michael let a soft smile crown on his face. "Delores was a firecracker. Always had this habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time but always in an endearing way" he spoke, soft tears breaking through the tough façade that he had been trying to build for the detectives. "Honestly, she was one of a kind. I wish I'd gotten to know her a little bit better. She seemed to enjoy the thrill of life it seems"

"What I don't get is how a girl from the burbs goes from this to slumming it in motels on the bar circuit." Nick stated, crossing his arms and making Michael feel a little intimidated.

Still, the answers weren't exactly difficult to comprehend for Michael. Shaking his head softly he responded "Well I did try to talk her out of it." Sighing to himself for a moment he took a few steps back. "Her father was a first generation Irish-American. Pretty much had to work every day in his life to be something more. As I recall he toured with many bands over the years just lending a hand when he could. A kid like Delores growing up in that and then coming here? She just couldn't accept that there was nothing here that interested her."

"So you let her go?" Nick added, his tone obviously unsympathetic to the cause. "Why do I find that hard to believe."

"Believe what you want detective. I wasn't the biggest fan of the idea and god knows I wanted so much for her not to follow through but I realised that this was something she needed." Another small sigh. "I just never anticipated that there would be nothing after it…"

_["Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" by Journey]_

_The car came to a slow halt outside of a bar in one of the poorer neighbourhoods of Philadelphia. The contrast of the car and the place it was sitting just seemed to say so much about the culture clash of the rich and the poor in the city of brotherly love. The evening was beginning to settle fast as an orange sky loomed ever closer into darkness. Despite still being on the inside, the night air managed to burst through, a slight chill running up and down the spines of Michael and Delores._

_In the distance the rattling sound of police sirens could be heard. If there ever was a bad sign to turn back on that would have been it. Both of them were well aware now though that there was simply no turning back. Still it didn't stop Michael from wanting to try._

"_You don't have to do this you know" he spoke, facing forward into the street whilst keeping his hands firmly placed on the wheel. Swallowing hard for what felt like the tenth time today he turned to face Delores. "You don't have to go through with it. I'll admit that I was in the wrong. I'll admit that you were right and that I was stupid."_

_Maybe it was because she finally had found a minor victory in all of this or maybe it was because she felt like the desperate pleading was what she always wanted, but Delores let a plain smile warm her face for a moment. She turned towards Michael, her famous 'it'll be fine' expression at the ready. "This dun have anythin' to do with you luv." With that she let a calm hand intertwine with one of his in hopes that it would make him understand why this was completely necessary for her. _

_Feeling her own hand in his own Michael couldn't help but to give a gentle squeeze before looking around a bit at the neighbourhood that they were in. Most of the apartment blocks nearby were dingy. The only thing that really stood out on this street were the neon-glowing signs of the rock bar that he had parked outside of which for the time being were dimmed thanks to the orange sky overhead. _

_Forcing himself to look at her with an expression that resembled fear, he managed to smile softly at her. "I know it don't. I just wanted to see if it would give you a reason not to leave right now." Leaning in closer, he balanced his forehead against hers. "It's not too late to turn back right now. Pretty sure we can call this whole thing off"_

"_Michael!" Delores growled. Could she really blame him for being anxious about this whole endeavour? Probably not. Still, his attitude was reeking up the already cramped confines of the car. "You need to stop."_

_He bounced back to his original position. Nodding to himself, Michael turned the engine to the car off and just sat still for a few moments. He had been worrying about this moment ever since Delores had told him about it. Well worrying wasn't the right word for it; the worry only began when he noticed that she had been packing up her things and that she had actually been serious about taking a job offer with her father's connections. Before he had a chance to turn and say anything else, Delores was already climbing out of the car and onto the streets. The cool breeze that swept over in that short moment was enough to shrink his ego._

_Following swiftly behind Michael opened the driver side door with a large amount of hesitation. Swinging his feet onto the pavement and lifting himself up, he made every measure to close the door as softly as possible before locking it. Some might have called it anxiety but for him it was anxiety well placed. You never knew what could happen in a neighbourhood like this. Opening the boot of his car he withdrew a few bags, carrying each in succession. He could almost feel the eyes of Delores burn into him with a rage of wanting to do it all by herself. It wasn't like Michael cared though. All he knew was that this was going to be one of the last things he'd get to do for his fiancé in a while. If independence was what she wanted then he just wanted to show her that he was always going to be there no matter the weather._

_After a few moments she chuckled softly to herself. "You know for someone who's trying to get back into my good books you're doing it in all the wrong ways." With that she took one of the bags that Michael was carrying close to his chest and slung it over her shoulder then. "You get an A for effort though, and a B+ for being sweet on me"_

_With a smug grin Michael pushed forward, walking through the open door which Delores had held open for him._

_Once inside the atmosphere completely changed. Instead of being in the bright orange skies of the evening Philadelphia, he was now greeted with a far more dramatic setting. The room was dark; not in the essence of being pitch black but in the mind-set of having a lot of darker colours fill the room. The absence of bright was enough to make Michael blink a few times as he gave a more sceptic look. The walls were plastered with fliers from bands that he had never even heard off and memorabilia from bands whose only work he knew was snorting cocaine off of hookers. Finally he set his eyes on his fiancé once more, the same expression as always._

'_It'll be fine'_

_If only he could reassure himself with those empty words. Maybe then he'd actually feel a lot better about doing this._

_Before he could even register what was going on, Delores had bounced ahead, apparently wanting to meet the people who she was going to be working for. 'Metal Dragons.' He couldn't say he'd ever heard of them but he assumed Delores must have been a big fan of their music. Why else would she even be here in the first place._

"_Warwick, you cannot be serious about this. 'Metal Dragons' are so close to hitting the big time and this will sink them…" Michael heard a voice exclaim from over the clamber of the steady drum fill that played on the jukebox. _

_As he got closer he caught the glimpse of the man who was speaking. In every way this guy looked like someone who had been born into this kind of music. The long hair that fell just short of his shoulders and his rather piercing eyes seemed to say a lot about him. Add on the fact that his clothes looked unkempt and that he was making some rather vulgar motions towards another man, it was safe to say that if he was not part of the band itself then he was part of the setup of the band._

"_Look I get it, we need chicks to flash and sparkle all over the joint, but don't you think that adding another one is just gonna do more damage" he fumed, obviously not noticing the fact that Delores was now standing less than ten feet away from him._

_In an instant, a heavy-set man turned on the spot and looked down on the young man. "Oh I'm sorry Miles, I had no idea that you felt so strongly about this. How about you sit down and take a nice long drink of 'shut-the-hell-up' and show the newbie the ropes" Turning away again, he bursted through a side door muttering something as he went. "God damn kid has the audacity to come at me. S'not like he's a part of the band."_

"_YEAH WELL IT'S NOT MY JOB TO BE A BABYSITTER!" Miles screamed in hopes that maybe Warwick would hear and come back. Right now he was just ready to pick a fight with the closest warm body._

_Shaking his head and turning around, he found Delores simply staring at him._

"_What the hell are you looking at…" he shot at her, clearly letting his mood grow worse with each passing second. As if this weren't enough of a deterrent to not talk to him, he also crossed his arms in mid-sentence. _

_Delores was taken aback by the attitude of Miles really. She had grown up around this type of thing but never for a minute had she faced up to something like this. "S-sorry, I'm new and I was wonder-"_

"_Oh great so you're the fabled pissant I gotta teach. Ain't this lovely."_

_Were Michael in the right mind-set he probably would have climbed up on stage and showed this guy some manners, but it appeared that for the time being he was caught in between wanting to do the right thing and having this guy scare Delores off. Even then part of him knew that Delores would not take anything lying down._

_The frown on her face seemed to say it before Michael could register it. "Amateurs teaching amateurs, isn't that the way these types of things are run? I mean if you think so lowly of me then how lowly does the manager feel of you to teach me the ropes as it were…" With a bold step forward, she got in Miles' face. "Talk big all you want but I know that I am ten times a better person than you right now. Maybe if you'd suck it up and take the stick out your ass you'd be on my level."_

_That seemed to have done it. Frankly Michael wasn't sure if this Miles character was for or against hitting women but he didn't want to stick around and find out._

"_You better watch yourself girlie. Accidents happen all the time and if you're not careful one might just happen to you."_

Vera clenched his fist a little upon hearing the news of this regular Casanova. Every ounce of restraint in his head was being used to not track this guy down right now and to just slap him silly. Even if he didn't murder Delores that threat was just about as good enough as a confession for him.

Seeing the strain on Vera, Lilly turned towards Michael and pulled out a card.

"Thanks for the help, we really appreciate it. If you remember anything else please call us"

Looking down at the card for a moment Michael sharply craned back up. "I will."


	3. Chapter 2 Part 2

For the most part the office remained fairly quiet. The only sound that dared to interrupt the silence that existed was the constant ringing of some phone in the distance and the casual conversations of the other detectives. Several officers crossed in and out of the bullpen, talking amongst themselves.

With the tasks divvied out earlier, the detectives went about their way in order to gather some information. The fact that Scotty was stuck behind a desk instead of out in the field just felt like a really big insult for him. Maybe Stillman had his reasons for benching him this turn. Of course there was very little he understood about the way the man worked; he truly floated around with no motivation sometimes. Even if he asked, he honestly doubted that he would get a reason. That was something he found that he had shared with the older detective. It was a stubbornness that pushed them to the limit.

Taking a quick note down on the notepad he had in front of him he gave a reassured smile. "Yeah, thanks…" he spoke, clear modesty in his voice as he placed the phone down on the hook. What he had in front of him now was a list of venues and a list of dates that Metal Dragons were playing at those venues. It might not have seemed like much in the grand scheme of things but to Scotty it was at least some progress made into finding Delores' killer.

Flipping the notebook closed, Scotty lifted himself from his seat in time to see Nick and Lilly wander back into the bullpen. Without even thinking about it, he flashed a hint of a smile at Lilly, sort of hoping that she seen and sort of hoping that she didn't at the same time.

These past few weeks for him had been some of his best. The mild flirting thing that he had with Lilly for all those years was now beginning to take some effect. Right now he just didn't want to jinx it; it was always better to play it cool and have it all than to go all in and come out with nothing.

Luckily (or unfortunately) Lilly had not shared his look and instead kept her gaze fixed at the boss man who was now in his own office. Ever since getting the file, the boss had done everything he could to chase down detectives who were on the case in hopes of digging up something, no matter how trivial it might have been. No rest was spared for Stillman as he continued down the phone, even as the gang began to rehuddle back in the middle of the bullpen to sort everything out.

The aggravation clearly got the better of Stillman as the detectives, as a group, watched the veins on his neck look like they were about to burst. This would not end well for any of them.

Deciding to give up on chasing down ghosts for the time being, Stillman walked through the door and back into the bullpen to meet his detectives. "Alright, what we got?" he asked turning towards Lilly and Vera.

"We talked to the fiancé and he pretty much still holds a candle to that girl." Vera stated, nodding his head slowly. "The only real lead we got from him were a couple of names; Warwick Scrivens and Miles Reardon. They were backstage employees by the sounds of things. Could have seen Delores' stepping in as an insult to whatever macho bravado these hair rockers had."

Not skipping a beat Kat took the reins from Vera. "We actually compiled a list of people who were working for the band, on and off the stage in '82. Not all that difficult seeing as how they all became suspects after her disappearance. Cops sort of gave up on asking them questions after they took themselves stateside." Kat flipped through the file that she held in her hand and pointed out two names in succession. "Warwick Scrivens was the Tour Manager, the guy in charge of all the Roadies. Died back in '87 through liver failure."

"That's terrific…" Nick responded, his low and rather snarky comment filling the room.

Holding up her finger, Kat continued. "Miles Reardon though is still alive. Sound Technician for the band. Apparently owns his own music store with his son now."

With a smug smile Lilly turned her head up. "We got an eye witness saying that Miles was the one putting threats on Delores in a very big way" she spoke. "Maybe he acted out on his whole 'accident' clause."

For a moment, they all looked amongst themselves. It seemed like everybody was eager to get out on this case and Stillman could clearly see why. With such high profile people within reach of the investigation, it could have surely led to something far greater. Who was he to try and restrain his colleagues.

"Kat…" he spoke, nodding towards her. "Take Scotty and go see what this Reardon knows. Might not be something, could be our doer. Try to keep an open mind because right now we still don't have much to go on."

* * *

The door to the shop gave a little chime as it rang to let the two detectives in. From the outside it just looked like your average corner store, but stepping inside it was clear that this place was made with the music in mind. Along several walls, guitars hung and from the empty ones there were posters from bands who had found their start right here in Philadelphia. When Scotty gave a quick scan, he noted a few names of a couple of bands he recognised.

For him it was a completely awe inspiring thing to be surrounded in a place that really felt like it carried itself with the atmosphere of a stadium rock concert. Taking a few cautious steps, he walked towards the counter to meet a fairly older gentleman who looked like the epitome of a classic rocker who had reached his prime.

Grey hair covered 50% of his face, and the places it left bare were covered with enough lines to map out the New York subway system. His expression was something that seemed confident, yet at the same time finicky. From where he was standing it just looked like he was scared of the two detectives who walked in, but wasn't prepared to admit it to anyone else. Hands were flung into pockets without care as he rocked gently on his feet.

Only when Scotty looked up to the small television set that was stationed at the top corner of the room did he actually realise why the older man was in such a state of distress. On screen there were images of Delores' face being flung onto the screen. The word was definitely out now and that would only help to hinder the case with every turn that they made. Turning back forward Scotty removed his badge, waiting patiently for Kat to remove her own before taking a few more cautious steps forward towards the man.

"Miles Reardon?" Scotty asked.

All the older man could do in that moment was release a mighty sigh to himself as he placed his elbows on the counter, quickly removing his hands from his pockets. Swallowing hard, the man then stood up straight, placing his hands behind his head and sighing once more.

It was only then that the other employee in the room came to the front. "Dad, you alright there?" the young man asked. Forcing himself to turn and face the detectives he looked at their badges for a moment. Whatever was going on just looked like serious official business to him. "Whoah… did we do something wrong" the kid asked, raising his arms in defence. The last thing he wanted right now was trouble and both Scotty and Kat could see that.

"Calm down son…" Miles spoke, placing a gentle and reaffirming hand on his shoulder. Looking back towards the customers, he gave his son a light shove in their general direction. "I'll take care of this alright. Go see to those nice folk over there."

You could see it from the look on his face. Miles' son obviously had his fair share of questions that he wanted to ask, but it seemed like he respected his father (or perhaps feared him enough) to go about and do what he was instructed. Making his way over, he couldn't help but look by every couple of feet to make sure that his dad was okay and things were going alright for him.

"Sorry about Gregory detectives, he can get a little bit jumpy" he chuckled to himself, trying to wash away all the hesitation that remained within him. "Can't say I blame him. Was never there for the first ten years of his life" Miles added, his eyes drifting to the side lightly as his good natured smile got away from him in some respects.

Nodding, Kat took a few steps forward. "Detective Miller and Valens. Obviously by now you know why we're here."

Slowly and surely Miles gave a nod of confirmation. With how close Miles was to Delores in her professional life, it was obvious that the detectives would make their way around to him eventually. "Finally found her after thirty plus years…" Miles responded.

Frowning softly to himself, Scotty couldn't help but cut in. "We don't know if it's Delores at the moment."

"Well if it's not then the media is having a right field day with it." Upon saying this, Miles waved his hand up at the screen to show the footage that the news reporters seemed to be playing on repeat. This type of coverage was to be expected but at the same time it just gave suspects a timeframe to construct an alibi in. "Honestly, if it were up to me then I'd be leaving the poor girl alone. Nothing much the news can do to bring her back except drag the names of good people through the muck."

"Names of good people?" Kat asked. "Good people like the lead guitarist who died in a drunk driving accident, people like the bassist who was so doped up on drugs and guilt that he shot himself years later or people like an alcoholic drummer who's had assault charges all over the U.S."

Scotty raised an eyebrow. He was impressed with the amount of detail she had actually done. Of course when you looked back into old suspects you had to find out who was still living and which ones had bit the bucket. As impressed as Scotty might have been, a quick glance over to Miles showed that he clearly was not amused by Kat bringing up these people he had worked with and had called his friends.

"Detective Miller, you have no idea what its lik-"

"Don't even get me started on you Miles." The interjection itself silenced the words that were about to come from his mouth. He almost bit his tongue as this young detective brought up a part of his life that he would have liked to have forgotten. "What was it you said? 'Accidents happen all the time?'"

"I never laid a hand on that woman" Miles retorted, doing his best to keep his tone low and hushed.

Scotty gave a quick chuckle to himself. "You're going to have to do a hell of a lot more than that to convince us. As far as we see it, you're the only real person who had a grudge with Delores." As always, a trademark arrogant smirk washed over his face for a moment before he looked back up at Miles. "I mean I totally get it, chick comes in and starts gunning for my job which can take me out of this place. It's enough to make any grown man want to take matters into his own hands."

"Back in '82 I was the least of Delores' problems."

Leaning across the counter Kat continued to press hard against him. "Who else had it out for Delores then?"

Pondering for a moment, Miles snapped back to reality. "How about Scrivens? Guy was a total sex pest to the girl and the rest of us could see it as clear as day…" Miles trailed off looking between the two detectives.

Scotty couldn't help but to scoff at the name handed out to him. Taking a step closer he narrowed his eyebrows down at Miles in hopes that intimidation would get the better of him. "Yeah, great idea Miles, blame it on a guy who's already bit the bullet. The lowlife you were back in '82, it was probably you who made the move."

"The girl was clueless. She thought she could survive in our world but as far as we were concerned she was just some pretty faced little thing from the burbs…" Miles commented. "I'm actually surprised she didn't run away. Our life isn't really for everyone. Deep down I had a feeling she knew that"

Scotty shook his head in disapproval. The way he was talking down to Delores right now was seriously starting to grate at him. "Maybe you made sure she went missing. No one's gonna miss a girl like that."

"It doesn't really matter who made the move. All I'm saying is that I was the least of her problems back then…"

* * *

_["Only the Young" by Journey]_

_It had been a couple of days since the newbie, as Miles preferred to call her, had actually arrived on the scene. Honestly, if his whole job wasn't banking on her actually learning stuff then he would have just laughed at every trivial mistake she made. For him, it was just amusing to watch someone so out of their league try and compete on the level that he had been working on for the longest time. Little girl was just straight out of suburbia and it didn't make his job any easier._

_For the time being though, he had managed to pass her off with an easy enough task. All she really had to do was fetch something fairly specific that he had left around somewhere. It was a quick mental note that told him that this might have gone over a lot easier if he actually kept track of his things and the supplies that he had on him._

_Frantically scurrying back into the room, she quickly caught eyes with Miles and his own position. With a bit of a spring in her step and a worried look on her face she launched over to him. Normally this behaviour would have warranted a raised eyebrow but when he seen a rather punkish looking woman race into the room, he immediately began to add the pieces together. Stepping in front of Delores and raising an arm to keep her back, he locked eyes with the other woman for a few moments, letting a graceful and rather smug grin crown onto his face._

"_Liz my love, what can I do for you this fine day?" he started, hoping it would be enough to calm her down even slightly. The cracked smile on his face was just one of the many ways he had learned how to deal with the woman who was coming at him, her blonde hair almost delaying a few seconds as her brisk walk stopped right in front of him._

_With a growl she responded. "How about you move your worthless ass out of my way."_

_As if taking the queue, Delores backed off a few feet knowing full well that this was not someone she wanted to mess with. For the first time in forever, a sense of fear washed over her face._

"_And miss the opportunity of seeing those cute as hell anger lines up close? Not a chance…" Miles responded, breaking into a light-hearted chuckle as he did so. "Besides, pretty sure newbie back here can't treat you the way that I can."_

_As if testing her patience to the maximum degree, Liz bore her teeth in a snarl that would have made any man back off from her. She was used to doing it as a defence mechanism for all these years. "This doesn't concern you Reardon. All I want is the girl."_

_Delores backed up a couple more feet, placing her back against the wall._

"_No offence Liz but she don't seem to want you back. Maybe you're barking up the wrong tree." For him it was all a joke, but the look on Liz's face seemed to spell something entirely different. He swore that if they were not in a public setting then she would have happily chewed him up and spat him out. "How about you back off and give the girl space?"_

"_How about you mind your own god damn business for once?" Liz asked, the hate flowing through her voice more vocally now._

_Miles chuckled to himself. "And miss the opportunity to spare my newbie a slow and painful death? I'll take my chances with Scrivens over you love." he spoke, his tone almost one of wanting to mock her. "What's your problem with the girl anyway."_

"_Why does that even matter" she snarled._

"_Because I was told to look out for her" Miles spoke, feigning sympathy. "Well there's that and the fact that you look like you're ready to fly off the handle… again."_

_Tensing her fists, she almost wanted to launch into both of them. Neither of them had any doubts of who would come out as the clear winner. Still, with that being said, Liz had other things she needed to do and wasting her time on something trivial and childish was something that she'd rather not be caught doing. _

"_Sleep with one eye, open pretty girl. This isn't over, not by a long way."_

_With that the woman stormed off, rage pounding out with every step._

_Before Miles even had the chance to turn around and ask her what all of that was about, Delores was pushing her way out of the corner and back onto the floor. There was a small sense in him that told him he should have probably have been worried, but right now it wasn't his problem._

* * *

Coming back from his older days, Miles shared a look with both of these detectives.

Kat was the one who broke the silence that seemed to be on both of their lips. "Who was this girl?" she asked, taking out a notebook full of names who had been involved in the preliminary investigation.

"Well the old gang used to call her 'Dirty Liz' but I think she's went back to people calling her Elizabeth Haywood right now." He looked towards Kat as she tapped on her paper knowing full well they had something useful to work with now. "She was another roadie and quite frankly, if I was a horror to work with then Liz was everyone's nightmare."

"Got a bit of a temper on her?" Scotty guessed just from the information they had been given about her.

"A bit of a temper is putting it lightly" Miles chuckled lightly to himself. "Rumours were circulating long before I ever met her. Apparently she killed her ex-husband; bludgeoned him with a bat. How's that for temper. Needless to say she was not someone people wanted to get on the wrong side of."

"Thanks for your help. We'll be in touch" Kat spoke as both of the detectives turned on the spot and headed out of the building.

Once they got outside, they turned towards each other with a knowing look in their eyes.

"Caving the back of someone's skull in like Delores' takes someone with a lot of pent up anger and rage inside of them." Scotty said.

Kat nodded. "And if the rumours are right then that just gives us all the more reason to look into Liz. She freaks out and loses her temper and less than a couple of weeks later, Delores' body is lying in a landfill"


	4. Chapter 3 Part 1

"Elizabeth Turnery. Maiden name Haywood." Stillman rang out to the fellow members of the bullpen circle. In all honesty, it hadn't taken him very long to find out the information that he was now giving to the rest of his team. When the detective came in he smacked a familiar sight in front of his squad.

Jeffries was the first to pick it up and scan through her criminal record. "Aggravated assault in '77, Assault and Battery in '84, Harassment in'89" Jeffries rang off. "The list hardly stops there." With that he noted down the last charge that had been made towards her was as late as 2002. Since then it appeared as though she had been squeaky clean and rather quiet when it came to the law.

Scotty merely scoffed at the idea. He probably should have known that someone who had as much rage as Miles Reardon had explained must have already had some sort of criminal record.

As Jeffries put down the file, Lilly reached for the case file next, hoping to get a clear reading on who this woman was. Her reach was only interrupted when she noted that Scotty had also taken the golden opportunity to grab all the info that he could from her criminal record. Looking up at him, they shared a gaze which seemingly only lasted a moment.

Darting her eyes away from scotty, she continued back to the case file and skimmed through it in a more analytic fashion than Jeffries.

"This girl doesn't seem to have any sort of prejudices towards her…" Lilly spoke, blissfully unaware of the fact that Scotty's gaze had not lifted from her. "Men, Women, Black, White, Young, Old. She's really consistent with her inconsistencies" she remarked with a soft-spoken smile.

Stillman nodded. "We got all signs that she's a violent person, but there's no record of her ever murdering someone" he added. "Closest she ever got was putting her ex into a week-long coma back in '77."

Dashing to the page in mention, she looked over some of the transcripts for the assault back in '77. Apparently she accused her ex of cheating on her and when he would not admit it, he took a bat to his skull. It all seemed too familiar for Lilly's taste.

"Wouldn't take much to put Liz in a tailspin it seems. So many triggers and so few places to run" Kat spoke, her tone fairly sharp. "And we already know that Liz had it out for Delores."

Before Lilly could add anything else to the pot, another person entered the bullpen a file placed strictly under her arm. The guys were wondering when the autopsy report would show up. Not that it would show them anything new of course; chances were if your skull was caved in then you weren't exactly poisoned.

"Hey guys" Frannie started. "Took a look and I have managed to confirm that the body at the dump site was in fact Delores Lafferty."

Well there was no surprise there. All the detectives shared the same look with Frannie like they had known this all along. Of course it would have been hard to be sure but all the evidence pointed towards it being Delores Lafferty.

"As for how she died…" Frannie promptly opened the file. "Blunt force trauma to the back of the head seems to be my best guess about it, but I'm assuming you guys already knew that" she spoke, pushing her tongue to the side of her cheek. Looking down at the opened file she rattled off what was in her notes, except in a less jargon based way. "As for the murder weapon, you're definitely looking for something rounded at least, maybe with flat sides?" she asked, posing it more as a question of uncertainty than an actual answer that the team were hoping for.

Again Stillman nodded. "Thanks for the new information Frannie" he spoke gruffly.

"Anytime." With that, Frankie left the immediate area, probably on her way back down to the morgue, but not before dropping the autopsy report behind.

After several moments Nick broke the silence. "Something round? Sounds like a baseball bat could fit there perfectly." It was clear he had already made up his own mind regarding Liz. Nick had always been that way, floundering his own decisions and jumping to conclusions with a sense of snark attached. "Honestly, I think Liz Turnery just became our number one suspect."

From what Vera and Kat could make out from looking up at their suspects home, Liz had certainly done well for herself. The fact that she had been off the radar for more than a decade and lived in a nice suburban neighbourhood like this seemed to say a lot about how far the woman had actually come. Nick still couldn't help his underlying prejudices but attempted to remain impartial in order to get the evidence or the testimony they needed for a new lead or perhaps to strengthen the one they already had.

It had taken Kat all of two seconds to swing out of the side door of the car and onto the pavement. The eagerness that she had right now seemed to say a lot about who she was and what side she took with this whole debacle.

All Vera could do was raise an eyebrow as he sluggishly moved out of his own seat and onto the pavement. A few moments later, he had joined Kat just a few feet from the front door. Vera could have said something but for the time being he decided that it might be best if he kept his mouth shut for both of their sakes.

A few moments later the door opened (Nick had assumed that Kat had already knocked the door). What greeted both of the detectives was a rather pleasant surprise. Standing in front of them stood an older woman, looking like she was close to her sixties. The amount of frailty that she opened the door with seemed to suggest something towards the detectives but they decided not to look into it much further.

"Elizabeth Turnery?" Nick spoke, a little sceptical that this was who he was actually talking to.

With that, the door swung open wider to reveal more of the woman's features. Giving her a quick up and down it looked clear that she had gotten into her fair share of scraps over the years.

Looking between the two detectives, the woman raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that's me…" she replied, taking a more comforted stance by leaning against the doorway. Obviously she had caught on to both of them. It wasn't everyday cops showed up by her door and with her many run ins with the law, she had learned to spot a cop from ten feet away. "How can I help you?" Liz spoke, her tone feeling like one that was forced. From both of their perspectives it was clear to see now that Liz didn't like playing the role of little house wife.

Pulling out their badges and flashing them instinctively, Nick spoke up again. "Detectives Vera and Miller…"

"We're here about the murder of Delores Lafferty back in '82" Kat spoke. "We understood you both had some sort of disagreement a few weeks before she went missing." The information that she relayed was rather loose. Despite the hand that Miles had given them, he didn't point them as to why she was upset in the first place.

For a while she just stood there, looking between the two detectives with a smug smile painted on her face. "You think I had something to do with this…?" she asked, her tone seeming fairly apathetic towards the detectives causes.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time you lashed out at people" Nick spoke, hoping to drive something into her. "How's your ex doing by the way?" From the expression on her face Nick knew that he had crossed a line somewhere but right now he didn't really care all that much.

A change in posture made it so that Liz was no longer leaning against the doorframe but now looking at Vera with piercing eyes. All she wanted right now was for this guy to get out of her sight and the best way to do that was just comply and give them what they wanted to hear. "I hear he's doing alright actually. Managed to find some other skanky broad who he could treat like trash" she spoke. "I'm done with him and I'm done with that life."

"So you say, but that doesn't stop us wondering if you ever followed through on your threat to Delores" Kat spoke. "Whatever she did to you must have pissed you right off. Telling someone to sleep with one eye open, that's as good as a threat can get in my opinion"

"What do you want me to say? The girl was a hack" Liz retorted.

This is when Nick stepped in. "So maybe you decided to do something about it huh?" he questioned. "You're no stranger to taking a bat to someone's head. Maybe she pissed you off for the last time and you just couldn't deal with the rage anymore. Constantly bubbling under the surface, ready to go off at any moment."

"Is he always this much of a drama queen" Liz spoke as she turned to Kat. She couldn't help but smirk. Liz might have had a mouth on her but she knew how to play people extremely well. Turning back to Nick she frowned. "I don't really care whether you believe me or not. All I know is that I didn't kill that girl."

"Sorry to say but it takes a little more than 'I didn't do it' to prove innocence" Kat protested.

Liz just smirked and looked between the pair. "Delores Lafferty was someone who had gotten way over her head. She left her quite little suburban lifestyle for something different and couldn't cope." Now she looked Vera dead in the eyes. "If it weren't for me she would have been out of there in a week."

"What are you saying?" Nick asked. "You helped Delores keep her job."

Nodding she spoke once more. "I didn't exactly help her keep her job, just gave her the skills to be more equipped at her job. What can I say the girl grew on me."

Kat raised a sceptical brow. "So why make the threat."

Thinking about it for a moment, Liz slumped back against the doorframe. "Something about wiring or some such, I don't know… it was a long time ago" she replied with a shrug to boot. "Back then I was a really angry person, sort of lost it when I felt people were stepping on my turf. But I can assure you I wasn't the only one who felt threatened by that girl"

_["Ask The Lonely" by Journey]_

_Right now in a matter of speaking Liz cared fairly little for what other people did around her. She had gotten used to ignorant behaviour long before this and had learned to deal and cope with different kinds of people over the years. Despite what anyone actually said about her and her temper, she rarely ever acted out on it and it was only when she did that she found herself overcome with white hot rage that ended with another charge on her criminal record._

_Seeing the newbie around every turn just helped to remind her that not long ago she too had been knew to this whole experience. Back then she didn't have much in ways of help; she had to pick up the basics on her own and the fact that the new girl was already walking in with the basics lent her some respect from the older woman._

_Loading stuff out of the van she paused for a moment, giving herself a little time to breath after lifting out several boxes from the van. She knew that she couldn't be still for so long, as soon as she was caught doing nothing, she would be rung up by Scrivens or some kiss ass who felt that they were doing the right thing. Wiping a hand across her brow, she leaned against a nearby column._

_Not for away she could make out a small ruckus or some sort of argument. Normally she wouldn't have cared but when she noted one of the voices was the new girl, she couldn't help but to listen in._

"_I'm sorry, I didn't know that's what I was supposed to be doing…" she commented, her voice a little bit fragile but at the same time standing strong. That's what she liked most about the girl really. There was a sense of bravery to what she said in that it could land her in trouble but she couldn't help shoving her foot into her mouth. "Maybe if you came to talk to me like a rational human being instead of some chew toy I would have got it done."_

_Liz couldn't help but to bring a sly smile across her face._

"_Oh so now I'm being talked down to by the help. How lovely…" came an equally snarky response. "I don't even understand why you're here amateur."_

_The voice seemed lethargic in some aspect and it wasn't till she peered round the corner that she understood why. It appeared that now the plucky young Delores had come face to face with Maxine. Judging from the look on both of their faces, neither were amused by being shot back at._

_Liz watched on as Delores shook her head. "Look, I'm doing my best out here. The least you could do is cut me a little slack." she spoke._

_For a while after there was a long and rather awkward silence. Liz just hoped that someone would break it soon. Maybe then things would seem less intense between the two girls._

"_Last time I cut anyone some slack we ended up hiring a sociopath" she slurred. Liz could feel her jaw clenching almost immediately. There was so much she wanted to do right now but that would involve stepping into the middle of the ring and she was content with just lying back this time around. "Still wondering how you made it through the cracks."_

_That seemed to be the breaking factor for Delores. "You know you can be a bitch to me all you want Max, but nothings gonna change the fact that I'm here for the long haul so you better get used to seeing my face." Delores took this as a picture perfect opportunity to walk off._

_She would have managed it too if Max hadn't aggressively grabbed her shoulder and spun her around on the balls of her heels. For a moment it looked like Max was ready to take a swing but no such sucker punch came._

"_Listen here you little bitch…" Max began. "I can make sure that you never have another career in this industry again. You have no idea just how much power I have."_

_Liz inwardly scoffed and she assumed that Delores had done the same when she crossed her arms. They were just big words from someone who liked to threaten others. Max was always a fan of playing dirty and right now it just seemed to obvious._

_Delores took a step forward, towering over Max. "Wonder how Scrivens would feel when he finds out you've been drinking again."_

_Liz's eyes shot open and Max's mouth dropped. The whole thing about Max having a drinking problem was something that was an unspoken secret but bringing it up the way she did was the best way to make sure that Max would back off._

"_What are you tal-" Max began, only to be cut off immediately by Delores._

"_Because I'm not stupid; you've been slurring your words, you can barely walk a straight line and…" she sniffed a few times to check if she was right. "… well let's just say that fans in the back row would be overpowered by your breath."_

_Right now she had to bite her bottom lip to contain her laughter. This was just so unreal right now. She was doing what so many of the other roadies had wanted to do for a long time and she was doing it in a big way. Putting Max in her place had been on her own mind, but she never really had the nerve to do it._

_Raising her hand to protest, Max backed up a few feet. "This isn't over…" Max spoke, slinking away. "It's not over till I say it's over"_

"Who was this lovely lady" Nick spoke, sarcasm rolling off of him.

Shifting from the doorframe one last time, she rolled her eyes back to think for a moment. "Maxine… Caldwell I think…" she replied, still stuck in her thoughts for a little while longer. "Was the bands drummer from the start to the finish."

"Did anyone know that Max had a drinking problem?" Kat asked.

Scoffing to herself, Liz shook her head in sheer apathy of the situation. "Pretty sure everyone was aware of it" she spoke. "Not a lot of people were willing to talk about it though because of the deal."

"What deal was this…?" Kat asked again.

"She had some term in her contract with the band that if she managed to be sober, or she managed to convince Scrivens of her sobriety, then she'd get some sort of money bonus…" she replied. "Scrivens didn't think she could pull it off but him being the oblivious jackass that he was, he honestly didn't know any better."

Both of the detectives looked at each other knowingly.

"Thanks for your help…" Nick spoke as he crossed down the steps, quickly followed by Kat. Now they had a new lead and a new suspect to boot. "We're looking for someone who has a motive to make sure Delores goes missing and there it is" Nick broke the silence freely. "Delores goes missing…"

"And Max picks up on the money that she's owed."


	5. Chapter 3 Part 2

Back at the bullpen it seemed like everyone had their own idea as to what happened to Delores. The leads that this case passed out with each passing moment just seemed to pile on more and more suspects. Everyone who could have even breathed the same air as Delores Lafferty back in '82 was being considered in this new investigation. So long ago, the detectives had let this case go unsolved and cold because there was nothing that they could really do or say, but now things were different. They had leads, they had information, they had the body and now they actually had suspects who had motives.

"My bet's on Reardon…" said Nick, his voice cutting through the soft silence that had been left by the speculation they all seemed to be under. For a while, most people shook their heads either to disagree with Nick or look down on him for jumping to conclusions so vastly. "Something about the guy seems off to me."

Lilly couldn't help but to try and offer a smile to him before returning her gaze to everyone else in the room who seemed deep in thought with their own speculations of this extravagant 'whodunnit?'

After a few moments of silence Kat spoke up. "You really think he could have done it over Miss 'has-priors-with-aggravated-assault.'" The tone her voice took and the way her eyebrow rocketed made it seem like she thought that Vera was a damn fool for thinking anyone but Liz could have been responsible for her death.

"Well I gotta say that I'm putting money on the fiancé…" Scotty spoke up through the silence, a smug smile painted across his face like it had always done.

Judging by the looks the rest of the team had given him, they didn't share his thoughts into Michael Ramirez being capable of murdering Delores. Even Jeffries, who had remained silent up to this point couldn't help but to calmly chuckle and roll his eyes as Scotty gave his own verdict of the facts.

"What makes you think that the fiancé had anything to do with this…?" Lilly spoke, finally speaking up and meeting Scotty's gaze with a rather sharp one of her own. "First sign she was missing, he did the right thing and called the cops."

Furrowing his brows slightly as Lilly gave him that look; he couldn't help but straighten his smirk out into a more professional expression. "Well it's kinda obvious that the fiancé is a bit obsessive over her" Scotty started. It might have been nothing but to him it was everything. He knew what it was like to want to protect someone from the bad things in the world. He so much wanted to keep Delores away from a rather skeevy and somewhat dangerous lifestyle. "I mean he could have just filed the report to make sure that the cops kept their eyes off of him."

Breaking gaze, Lilly rolled her eyes in a subtle fashion. She shifted her eyes towards Stillman who was popping out of the doors of his office.

"Okay people…" he spoke as the detectives gathered in for their assignments. As far as they knew, they had one solid lead in Maxine Caldwell. From what they assumed, Stillman had been making phone calls throughout the case and digging into past intel to try and find out more, so there was a good chance that there might have been more waiting for them. "Turns out we may have a witness of sorts."

The way in which Stillman had gave the information implied he was unsure of how he should have handled it. There was a possibility that the witness could have been unreliable to the case itself. Instead of asking, the detectives waited with baited breath in hopes that he could give them something to go on.

Giving a soft smile to his team, he firmly placed his hand on the nearest desk. "Cassidy Freeman…" For most of the detectives, the name was an unknown, but Scotty's ears seemed to perk up at hearing the name itself. "She wrote a biography of the band in '97 and has been to every single one of their shows in Philadelphia since they formed. Cops back in '82 thought she was just another person looking for attention."

Scotty spoke up. "Hardly. This girl was a massive groupie to the band. I mean sure she could have been looking for something but if anyone knows about the inner workings of the band dynamic its Cassidy."

Stillman nodded. "There's a good chance she could give us something that we don't already know." Turning to meet Scotty he spoke once more. "You and Jeffries go see this Cassidy Freeman." Moments later he turned towards Kat. "You and Nick stay behind and make sure everyone's stories clear out. Lilly, that means you're with me with Maxine."

Having their grouped assignments, the detectives broke off and set about getting as much work as they could done.

* * *

The car that Lilly and Stillman were in came to a near halt near a bar in the center of Philadelphia. When Lilly had first learned that Maxine now owned a blues bar, it struck her as a tad strange. Even if she were a recovering alcoholic, surely the last thing she would have wanted was to be working in a place like this. So much temptation and there was only so much you could do to avoid it all.

For the entirety of the car ride, the two detectives had spoken not a word to each other but now that the car was in a rested state, Stillman found himself speaking up. "What's going on with you and Scotty…?" Stillman asked, his voice more concerned than anything. Really, he could have tried to be an assertive individual and demand to know what was going on, but for the most part, he trusted both of his detectives to keep their personal lives away from their professional lives.

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "What d'ya mean?" she asked, simply confused as to where this question was coming from.

"Something's happening between you two…" Stillman replied, his smooth tone cutting through the silence of the car. "The coffee, the looks you give each other, something's just not sitting right Lil' and I think you know it." Call it snooping if you must, but he simply only had good intentions in mind. Still, even now he knew he might have taken it a step too far. He could tell by the way that Lilly's eyebrow continued to raise.

"Relax boss" Lilly replied with a sense of urgency. "It's just coffee, no one said it was anything but coffee."

Stillman paused for a moment, trying to think through what he was about to say logically before he said a word of it. "Be careful Lil'." For a moment afterwards, Stillman seemed to hold Lilly with an icy gaze. "I've seen many good detectives go down this route before. It never ends well. As soon as it gets messy, you have to get out of there."

Lilly didn't say a word for the longest time. Her mind simply cycled back to all the incidents. Back on the Thompson case when Scotty had given her that look, the way he was more interested in her life than ever before. And that was nothing compared to the aspirin; sure it might have seemed like a simple and friendly thing but she knew otherwise deep down.

It looked like she was going to have to tell him off. The pained thought ran through her head for a while.

"Yeah… okay" she finally replied as Stillman gave her a rather genuine smile.

Breaking the rather awkward moment, Stillman got out of the passenger side of the car and onto the pavement. Lilly could only join him a few moments later after letting loose a hefty sigh and realigning her own thoughts. The fact that Stillman had not moved an inch from his post on the pavement seemed to imply that he knew more than he was actually letting on. Despite the fact that it had been none of his business in the first place, the sheer fact that he was looking out for both of them seemed to ring a certain element of gratitude within Lilly.

Looking up at the faded sign that read "Gary's Blues Grill" she couldn't help but smile. Maybe Maxine had come here for the music more than the habit of it all. She could only hope so. Years of looking after an alcoholic had made her such a pessimist with these issues, but holding out hope seemed to be the only thing that launched her inside the dimly lit building.

From looking around, there were no windows and every table and booth seemed to be masked with the remnants of smokers of years gone by. It was clear that the bar was past its prime and that the people coming here merely did so out of necessity. Looking around at all of the employee's, a good number of them appeared to be closer to Stallman's age than her own. There simply wasn't room for an old fashioned bar like this in Philadelphia anymore. As her eyes locked with a brunette who was behind the bar, she nudged Stillman lightly.

Nodding, Stillman crossed the floor of the club and approached the bar with a small and rather gentle smile.

In an instant, the brunette looked up before looking back down to the glass that she was washing with a certain degree of scrutiny. Without bothering to lift her head again she spoke. "What can I get you folks?"

Using the opportunity to his advantage, Stillman procured his badge with Lilly following up shortly after. Flipping it over he placed it on the bar. "How about you give us some information?" Stillman asked as he pushed the badge across the bar into Maxine's line of sight. "Everything you know on Delores Lafferty. Now."

Almost like a blur, the girl whipped her head up to meet the gaze of the two detectives in front of her. The clear look of panic on her face seemed to imply that she was who they were looking for. Of course it made the job all the easier that she was the only bartender on duty right now. Such was the benefit of working in a quiet bar.

"Delores Lafferty…? Doesn't ring a bell" Maxine spoke, the clear look of a liar painted all over her face. "Should it?"

Stillman met her face with a smile. In a sudden change of mood Stillman slammed his hand against the bar, frowning as hard as he could. "Cut the bull Maxine…" The look of Max swallowing hard seemed to say more than enough. "We know you had it out for Delores. She was planning on spilling the beans on your sobriety to protect your little bonus."

Furrowing her brows, Max attempted to give Stillman the same look that he was giving her. Turning around, she placed the glass back where it should have been before turning to face both detectives again. "Sorry, could you speak about this a little louder. I don't think my boss could hear you out back."

"Then maybe it'd be best to get us out of your hair as soon as you could" Lilly spoke with a polite elegance to her.

Max sighed once before leaning over the bar. "Okay, I was pissed that the newbie was planning on ratting me out but I didn't touch a hair on her head."

Stillman still gave her the look of malicious intent. Lilly tried her best to contrast this look with her own. The good cop bad cop routine was something that most detectives seemed familiar with. "Look, I want to believe you, but you have the motive and opportunity to do it so… I don't know." All she had to do now was let Max take it from here.

"Motive and opportunity…?" Max asked. "Look I didn't like the girl but we sorted out differences long before she went missing."

* * *

_["Girl Can't Help It" by Journey]_

_There was a peaceful clarity between being drunk as all hell and being the kind of drunk that allowed you to remember anything. For the most part, whenever Max got drunk, she tried to find that clarity; the place in which she could remember everything and yet still manage to find the willpower to carry on regardless of what was going on around her._

_In all honesty she knew that she should not have been drinking. The band had a set in less than two hours and she could barely walk a straight line. _

_She chose to ignore the loud knocks on her door from inside her motel room. Whoever it was could wait until she was done with what she did best. As the banging continued, Max could only make annoyed groans towards the person responsible for it all. Sitting straight up in her bed, she took another swig of tequila before letting a content and rather warm smile rush over her. For Max, there was never a problem that a good bottle of booze could not cure. It might not have been the healthiest way to look at things but it was the way in which she was accustomed to looking at things._

_The banging turned into loud thumping as more efforts were made into trying to bring her out of her motel room._

"_Max…" a voice rang out of seemingly nowhere. The suddenness of the voice caused her to look every which way before setting back down onto the door again. "Max, I know you're in there." _

_The voice in question was familiar, but not so much from this setting. It didn't sound like any of the regulars who tried to get her attention during one of her drinking sessions. Still, the voice stuck to her for a while longer._

"_Whosit?" Max asked, or rather shouted, all in one stringed together sound. _

_For a moment there was silence, before the door swung open. Max strained her eyes to see who had come to try and drag her out of this place. As her eyes adjusted to the absence of light, she made out that the figure standing in the doorway was actually Delores. Quite frankly, it was the last person she had been expecting to see here._

"_Fuckin' hell" Delores spoke, looking around immediately at the calamity that had been caused throughout the room. Bottles of booze lined the side of Max's bed, all clearly having been drunk at least in the past couple of days or so. Rushing over to the now clearly inebriated Max, she placed two steady hands on her shoulders and looked her glazed face over once. "Max, we need to get you cleaned up okay. You have a show in 2 hours and you need to sober up for me… you think you can do that."_

_Without even thinking how impossible it seemed, Max simply nodded with a cheesy smile plastered onto her face. "I caaaaan doooo that" she spoke as she struggled off the bed, making it only a foot before she collapsed back onto the bed, passing out almost immediately. "Night niiiiiight."_

* * *

"Not my proudest moment ever" Max spoke, running over the bar with a washcloth, not wanting to look the detectives in the eye through sheer humiliation. "Missed the show, Scrivens found out. Girl tried to help me out and I respect her for that."

Stillman gave her a stern look whilst Lilly traded hers for one of utmost sympathy. Clearly Max was still trying her best to keep everything together and that was more than anyone could have asked her to do in the first place.

"So you had nothing to gain from killing her then?" Lilly asked honestly.

Meeting her gaze, Max gave an honest smile. "No reason to want her dead and no opportunity."

At the park, where she said she would have been when the detectives called her up earlier, sat Cassidy, a plain smile sat across her face as she pushed greying hair out of her field of vision.

The sight of two detectives coming towards her (or so she thought they were detectives with the big coats and all) forced Cassidy to rise to her feet in a rather sluggish motion, The smile planted on her face though seemed to imply that she was happy enough to go out of the way just to make sure this whole kerfuffle was done and dusted.

In an instant, Scotty and Jeffries spotted the older woman. For the most part she looked like an average groupie of a rock band. She adorned the shirt of 'Metal Dragons' across her chest which forced Scotty to raise a brow. He had never known the band to make merchandise and so he thought her to be lucky. Crossing the path, he dug into his coat pocket, retrieving his badge. True, it might not have been necessary but the thought was so ingrained into his head. Looking over, he had seen that Jeffries had already dug his out and was flashing it from several yards off.

As the woman nodded, they paused just feet away from her, the smile on her face becoming more noticeable.

"Detectives Jeffries and Valens…" Will spoke, waving a hand across to Scotty as he spoke his name before returning it to his side. "Are you Miss Freeman?" he spoke with all the calm air he could muster.

This case was seemingly taking a lot out of everyone. He'd have been a fool to not notice the air that had been hanging around the office. Quite honestly, he didn't care whose fault it was; all he wanted was to enjoy the company of his colleagues without the added drama that came with it all.

The woman let her smile grow wider, almost turning itself into a grin as she faced the detectives. "That's me…" she spoke, her rather chipper tone telling the detectives everything they needed to know about her. "You're captain spoke on the phone. Asked if I knew anything about the girl who was found in the trash pile." Instantly, she shook her head. "Such a waste of a life."

"We were actually hoping you knew something about Delores, what with you being so close to the band…" Scotty asked.

There was a short pause before Cassidy spoke up again. "I knew her…" Both of the detectives nodded to her case. Sighing rather loudly she picked up again. "She was my friend actually. Often she would let me watch the band from backstage and if it weren't for her I would never have met my first husband."

Scotty raised an eyebrow towards her. "You're talking about Thomas Delaney… the bassist?" he asked.

Without even pausing to think about it, Cassidy nodded. "I owe her a lot." She turned away for a second before turning back. "I'd love to help in any way that I possibly could."

Jeffries took a brisk step forward, closing his gap on Cassidy before shoving his rather large hands into his pockets. "Do you know anyone who had it in for Delores, Cassidy?" He shifted for a moment. "Anyone who might have had a reason to see her disappear."

Cassidy shrugged her shoulders, a contemplative look on her face. As much as she wanted to try and think of something, she sheer fact was that there was very little she knew about Cassidy. She tapped her foot, as if to race through each and every single thought in an attempt to think of something or someone.

A pause later and Cassidy's face lit up slightly. "I can't say what really came of it but there was a small incident just shortly before she died…"

* * *

_["Never Walk Away" by Journey]_

_The band wasn't set to go on for another few hours yet. Still, there was something about being here so early that lit up her thoughts and let them race with the fact that one day she might actually get to marry one of the men on stage. The thoughts occupied her every waking moment sometimes and whilst it might have been fairly irrational, she was always confident that when it came to the end, things would always go her way._

_Sitting by the bar, she had already ordered a beer and the brown contents of the glass bottle were still mostly there. Truth be told she didn't drink much. She had only ordered the drink to satisfy the rather grumpy bartender who was standing by just in case she tried anything that he seen as stupid._

_As her eyes glanced along the stage, she let them fall on Delores who was busy setting up the equipment in preparation for the show tonight. Usually she would have walked over and said something but it was sort of clear that Delores was busy and could do without Cassidy's unique charm right now. What she was doing exactly she couldn't make out, but it did not take long for things to kick off as soon as she had found a rhythm to what she was doing._

_From the corner of her eye she could see a figure make his way onto the stage. Judging from the sheer size of the figure, she figured that it was Scrivens. Normally he was one to make sure everything was running smoothly, but this time things just seemed to be a little different._

_Her ears pricked up as their slow discussion soon elevated into something more. What once started out as hushed whispers was slowly getting louder to the point where Cassidy could make out what they were saying to each other if not a little bit lost by the context of the situation itself._

_"You're a perverted old man is what you are" she heard, the voice filling up with a sense of fear and confidence at the same time. It wasn't secret that Scrivens was a dirty guy but to have the balls to say it after he hired you was something else. "You might have pulled one off on everyone else but I won't go down like that."_

_Almost instantly, Scrivens grabbed the girls wrist, speaking low enough so that Cassidy had to lean in some to figure out what the hell was going on. "You will do as you're told if you want to keep your job. Got it little Missy."_

_This itself seemed to be a poor act on Scrivens' part as soon Delores let loose a shriek. Not one of terror or fear, but one to attract the attention of everyone around her. Judging from the way Scrivens was looking around like a panicked dog, she could only assume that he wasn't all too pleased with her trucks._

_"Shut your god damn whore mouth" he spoke, his teeth snarling at her._

_Another scream was about to be made but was cut short by the entry if another figure. "What the hell is going on…?" Miles asked, his eyebrow raised as he couldn't help but to notice how tightly Scrivens was holding her risk. "Is everything okay out here?"_

_Slowly but surely, Scrivens backed off, letting go of Delores' arm in the process and grinning madly._

_"No problem here boy…" he spoke, his voice filling the room with a dark and sleazy undertone. "Just trying to get to know our new friend here better is all."_

_Taking more good steps forward, Miles now found himself standing in between Scrivens and Delores. With his arms crossed across his chest and a frown painted on his face, Cassidy merely assumed that Scrivens had went after the wrong woman. The look of jealousy for her was easy to see because it was one that she had painted so many times before._

_"Maybe you should back off then and leave the girl be…" Miles responded._

_Chuckling to himself, Scrivens turned to face the door. "Fine… you want her, have her…" As his rotund physique left the room, the only thing that could be heard was the deafening silence that was brought by the man's final words. "God knows it's not the first time…"_

* * *

Cassidy couldn't help but too look on with a frown on her face, looking between the detectives. "Scrivens was always a dirty old man but I never thought he would actually stoop so low as to bring that nice boy down with him." There was a short pause. "I mean she seemed so besotted with the man."

"This man you're talking about is Miles right? Miles Reardon" Scotty asked, eyebrow quipped.

There was a slow but graceful nod from Cassidy. "Miles adored that girl but none of us could really get over the fact that he was hiding something."

"Thanks again for your time" Jeffries spoke as he nodded towards Cassidy, she giving a nod back towards the detectives as they headed off in their different directions.

"Funny how Miles left this out the first time…"


	6. Chapter 4 Part 1

It hadn't taken very long for the detectives to locate and apprehend Miles Reardon. As per usual, he was busily working away at his store with his son. When the cops had come for him he had remained as patient and calm as he could under the situation knowing full well the more he resisted, the more the cops would have against him. His son on the other hand had been fairly overprotective and adamant about the fact that the detectives had the wrong man and they should have been looking elsewhere. It really didn't matter though; the detectives had enough reason to decide if Miles was a guilty party or not.

Now Miles just sat in this fairly boxed off room, the only real components of it being a chair he was seated on, another chair, a table, one of those one way mirrors (or so he assumed it was a one way mirror) and a door. Despite the fact that they had dropped Miles in here just less than five minutes ago, Miles was doing everything he could to keep a straight-laced face throughout this entire endeavour.

After ten or so minutes of waiting (he got the point that they were either trying to intimidate him with the room itself or leave him with his own thoughts), the door opened revealing the two detectives who had come to interrogate him the first time around. All he could manage was to treat their appearance with a warm smile. Of course he knew he was in trouble but he really did have nothing to hide because as far as he was concerned, he was a guilt free man.

"Nice to see you again detectives…" Miles spoke. That was a lie. He could have gone his whole life without seeing either of them again and that would have been perfectly okay by him. Still, he had to keep up his own charming repertoire with these detectives.

Without even taking a quick thought, Kat jumped in, staring Miles down as she crossed the room towards him. "Cut the crap Miles." Clearly she was annoyed by the fact that she had been lied to and deceived. She knew the others felt the same but it always struck her the hardest. "We know what happened between you, Scrivens and Delores."

Miles swallowed hard, trying to hide the fact that he knew something of importance. "I don't know what you're tal-"

"Ah, but you do Miles" Scotty spoke as he came round the other side of the table to the point where he was now towering over Miles and the chair he was planted on. The fact that Miles had to look up to him didn't make him feel any better about this situation in any way. "Got a real talent for leaving out very important pieces of information" Scotty alerted Miles in his rather condescending tone.

"But I didn't leave anything out!" Miles pleaded, his own innocence and ignorance taking over in a rather flighty manoeuvre.

Frowning, Kat pushed a file across the desk and flipped it open. The picture he seen at the top right was one he had seen many times before and one he had been trying to forget for the longest of times. "Miles Cheswick huh? Never took you for a Cheswick" Kat spoke, anger filling her tone. "Born with a silver spoon in your mouth and a trust fund waiting to be cracked open…"

"The problem with that is that you weren't exactly squeaky clean as a kid." Scotty looked over the file once more, planting his arm on the table as he did so to get a more solid footing over the situation. "Grand theft auto, Petty Larceny, Solicitation…" Scotty laughed a little at this last one before looking back over at Miles. "Seems to me like hiding who you were is something that you do excellently" he added. "Maybe that's why you killed her. She threatened to tell everyone that you were just some privileged kid and you'd be even more of an outcast."

For a moment, Miles did nothing. "I have no regrets in where I came from detectives…" he finally spoke. "That life was just not for me. I felt like I was trapped in a gilded cage. Music was the thing that set me free and set me straight." Bringing the file closer to him with a swipe he looked at his own record. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to stand by and let someone take that away from me."

Pounding the table in order to jut Miles a bit, Kat leaned in closer. "You stood up to Scrivens. The end all to your career and lifestyle. He could have took you off and yet he didn't. Mind telling us why?"

"Because as good as he was at talking around problems, nothing could top his fear of having the cops on his ass…" Miles responded. "He might have given me the job but that doesn't mean I had to respect the man. In fact if anything I found what he did deplorable…" His voice hitched for a moment before continuing. "There were so many times I could have stopped what he was doing. So many times I could have jumped into action and I didn't."

A stunned silence fell the room. They hardly expected that they were going to get this out of Miles.

"I only stepped in when it was someone that I cared about that was on the line." Miles jolted back in his seat and tried to regain what little composure he had left in him right now.

Leaning in at the opposite end, Scotty tried his best to find his own calm spot. "So what you're saying is that Scrivens killed Delores to keep his secret?" Depending on how he answered, this whole case could have collapsed on the spot. They were so close to the end and he refused to believe that their doer was now deceased.

"Couldn't have been…" Miles retorted. Steadying his tone, he looked between the two detectives for a long time. "The night that she went missing was the night I had to be called to bail Scrivens out of jail. Apparently he had harassed the wrong person and found himself behind bars."

Neither Scotty nor Kat could help but to let a smile form on their faces. Looked like the guy got what he deserved. Still, that didn't detain from the point that Scrivens was out on the prowl the next day and for so many days after that.

Scotty sighed inwardly to himself. "How about you start from where we know…" Scotty asked. "After the incident with Scrivens and Delores, what happened."

Nodding to himself he tried to remember all he could. "For the most part she avoided me for a week after. She thought that I was holding back from her and in a way I kind of was. Never really got the chance to explain the story until she came to find me…"

* * *

_["Why Can't This Night Go On Forever" by Journey]_

_Miles had been so busy being invested in the electronics for tonight's show for the past hour or so. This night was supposed to be their big breakthrough; their final show in Philadelphia before they hit the road and became something much more than just another average rock band. For Miles, it was never about thinking if the band was good or not. They supplied him with work and with shelter amongst other things and all he really had to do was to help out wherever he could and make sure he kept his mouth shut when it came to things that he felt he should have stood up against._

_Plugging in the final jack, he pushed himself to his feet by using his legs for leverage. It was only when he got to his feet that he realised that Delores was standing in front of him with a well-placed frown on her face. For the most part he assumed that he deserved nothing less than her hatred right now. Miles had stood back time and time again when Scrivens had taken his opportunity and such a loud and bold character like Delores couldn't accept the fact. He envied her and her ability to stand up for what she believed in sometimes._

_There was an awkward exchange of looks given before either of them could really say anything. Quite frankly he thought he would have to be the one to break the silence but when she had spoken up instead he let a soft smile warm his face._

_"We need to talk about what happened…" From her tone, he could tell that she was worn out and fairly tired. The fact never occurred to him that she had been thinking on this for a long time. Perhaps that's why she had needed her space in the first place, to think about what she wanted to say before she actually let the words flow out._

_Miles was already hesitant but this just made him more so. "Alright." Miles wasn't sure what he could offer her right now but it wasn't like he was in a position to say no either._

_Delores swallowed hard before locking her eyes with Miles just to make sure that he was listening to what she had to say. "I don't think it's right…" That much was obvious. Miles figured that it was something bad, but what could he do about it. "You've kept your mouth shut all this time and that's fine for you." The words only helped but to make Miles breathe a sigh of relief. "But…" It was funny how one words could change his mood immediately; from being alright about everything to being a nervous wreck in the blink of an eye. "I don't think I can keep quiet about this."_

_"What are you gonna do about it?" Miles asked, more curious than anxious. In his head he knew it was the right thing to do and even then he couldn't bring himself to do it. Delores though, he only assumed that she could manage it._

_Frowning gently, Delores let her eyes fleet away. "I don't know…" With a sigh she began to explain herself. "If I say something then there's a good chance that this freedom I've worked for will just disappear. If I say nothing then Scrivens is gonna keep doing what he's doing and I'm afraid I'll not be able to live with myself."_

_The last thing Miles had ever wanted was for her to be confused about the situation. She deserved to have all the answers in front of her. With the choice that was lying ahead, he couldn't blame her if she was feeling the nerves of it all. Resting his hand on top of the speaker he had been working on, he leaned in. "There's more to everything than just the black and white of it all."_

_Delores looked at him for a moment before giving a soft smile._

_"We both have something to lose from doing this; either we lose our integrity or our freedom." Miles spoke before sighing and looking back into Delores' eyes. "There's nothing in my life apart from this job. The minute I do something, everything that I've built this life around falls apart." He bit the inside of his cheek some before turning back. "Guess what I'm trying to say is if you decide to say something, at least you have things to fall back on."_

_This thought aggravated Delores some, but she couldn't help but to agree that he was right. Placing her hands atop his own on the speaker she frowned for a moment. "There is so much more to me than that girl who is marrying Michael Ramirez. So much more to me than the granddaughter of some roadie legend. I just feel there's so much more to give and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place."_

_Leaning in closer, he let his voice drop to a soft whisper. "Is it worth losing your mind over?"_

_Huffing, Delores dropped her tone to meet Miles'. "I don't know whats right or wrong anymore. I feel like every time I make a move there's someone watching me and I can't go on li-"_

_Before she even had a chance to continue what she was going to say, she felt the warmth of lips on her own lips. It was only after a few seconds that she had realised that Miles had made a move on her. Part of her knew she should have felt disgusted but at the same time, it was like the worlds stress had been lifted off of her shoulder in one single sweep. Miles might have only done it to shut her up but in that moment everything seemed crystal clear._

_As Miles pulled back, Delores couldn't help but smile. "Thank you."_

_What struck her suddenly was an arm that seemed to come from behind and grab her shoulder. In an instant, Miles was backing off knowing full well that this would not end well for him. As Delores turned around, she was not greeted by the face of Scrivens but actually Michael. Her husband to be had just witnessed everything and judging from his expression he was not happy in the slightest._

_"We're going…" Michael spoke, his voice sounding as dominating and controlling as humanly possible. "NOW!" With that, he took the much more assertive role of grabbing her by the wrist and walking her off. Miles probably should have fought for her, but what was he going to do besides make things a whole lot worse for Delores._

* * *

Miles snapped back to reality, almost bubbling over from everything. If he were a braver man he would have stepped in all those years ago and said something, but he knew that he was just a kid, a kid who was scared of what might happen if he stood up against anyone who was bigger than him.

"So wait…" Scotty started. "Michael dragged her off?"

Miles simply nodded. "I've never seen anyone look as angry before in my life. He looked crushed and at the same time just full of rage and hate." Miles hesitated. "Can't help but think that maybe if I had gone after him and said something, she might still be alive…"

"Why didn't you say anything back at the store the first time we came for you?" Kat asked, annoyed by the trivial timewasting of it all.

Miles shook his head. "Because part of me hoped that it was someone else" Miles replied. "She loved him and I can't face the fact that someone she loved might have been the reason why she was killed."

In an instant Scotty turned to Kat and they both locked eyes for a moment. "Yeah well you'd be surprised of how powerful a motivator jealousy can be."


	7. Chapter 4 Part 2

Like buzzards who were waiting for their prey to drop dead, the detectives found themselves circling over the bullpen hoping for something a little more than the testimony of a witness who had already tried to deceive them once before. None of them really knew what to expect; the interview was conducted under the right circumstances and the testimony that had been given was something that shone new light onto this tangled web of a case.

Hunched over the table, Scotty began to look at the tour dates once more. There had to be something that he was missing. Up until a few months before their big break, the band had been playing in bars for chump change. The last show that they had done in Philadelphia that year was on front of a real crowd. It might not have been the crowd that a professional rock band would expect but it was large enough that they had to play on an actual stage. It just made things all the more difficult for Scotty. According to Reardon, Delores was actually there before the last show.

There was a chance that he could have been lying, but right now it just gave them a timeline to work with. Sighing, he found himself aimlessly wandering over to Lilly's desk, a hope that she might have something dawning in his head.

Without even turning her head to face him, Lilly spoke. "Everything alright Scotty?" In her head she knew the answer. She knew that nothing was alright. It was strange to feel this kind of tension, an unwarranted tension that wouldn't go away no matter how hard you tried to push at it. Maybe they would find themselves talking after the case was done, but even then Lilly knew that it was not a conversation she wanted to have. All she could do was focus and put her head to this case.

"Yeah, I'm alright…" he spoke, feigning his inwardly feelings towards this moment. "I just feel that this whole thing is messed up."

Right then Lilly couldn't decide whether he was talking about the case or their own personal relationship. There was nothing she could really add on the latter, so she focused on the former. "Cases like these are always messed up. Someone's going to get hurt either way" It was true. No matter how many cold jobs she had navigated through, it never got any easier to dig up harsh memories.

Turning herself around, she managed to see the remnants of Scotty wince to himself. Immediately she gave a disapproving look before turning back towards her computer. "All we can hope is that we don't tread the past up to much…" she spoke. "And that at the end of everything, we can walk away with our heads held high."

Scotty couldn't help but chuckle slightly but also feel disheartened by their entire semi-talk; to call it a conversation would be an insult to conversations everywhere. His eyes remained set on the back of her head till the voice of Vera croaked him awake some several minutes later.

"Got it!" Vera stated as he hung up the phone, probably allowing who was on the other end to hear his final moments of eureka. The sudden outburst got the looks of several individuals who were simply passing by in that exact moment. Even Scotty himself couldn't help to raise an eyebrow as he walked further towards the centre of the bullpen, ready to exchange information once more.

As soon as everyone was gathered round (and he had managed to collect himself from his rather sudden outburst), Vera began to speak once more. "So as it turns out, Michael Ramirez has a pretty clean sheet." Scotty led a grin slide onto his face as he observed Vera's rather smug look grow with each passing second. "However, Ramirez has some unpaid parking tickets from back in '82."

Having a bit of an idea on where this might have been going, Scotty rushed to his own desk and pulled out his notebook which held most of the tour dates for "Metal Dragons" back when Delores has disappeared.

Upon reaching the notebook, Vera had begun to list of the dates in order. "June 12th and July 10th, in front of an old Blues Bar downtown, July 21st and August 14th in front of a different bar and finally September 25th at a concert venue." Looking over towards Scotty, he was a tad fearful to ask but the instant that Scotty gave a quick nod, he knew that his work had at least gotten him somewhere.

"So what does this mean?" Lilly asked, a tad sceptical of the situation. "Michael Ramirez was following her?"

Kat nodded, thinking maybe there was some sense behind it all. "Well that would certainly give Miles' story a shot…" she responded. "I mean this proves that he was there the night that she disappeared. For all we know, he could have had something to do with it."

"Not only that, but it also puts a hole in his story" Jeffries added. "Makes it so he seen her long after he said he did. The last letter he got from her was in August and maybe there's a reason for that."

All at once, everyone seemed to have the same sort of idea about what had happened and really, it all made sense to them. "Fool us once…" Lilly spoke aloud.

* * *

For Michael Ramirez, nothing could have been worse. To actually have been dragged down to the station and locked up in this small room, the detectives behind the case of his dead fiancé thinking that he must have had something to do with it. The thought was ludicrous and it stuck with Michael as he waited calmly in the small room. There was not much to do except to stare at his reflection and just wonder how he had gotten into this situation in the first place.

Over and over again he couldn't help but to relive those last few moments that he had with Delores.

Back then he had been so possessive because he feared the worst. Nothing could prepare him for losing the love that he once had and being forced to think about it here only made Michael think about all the times he had let her go, about all the times he had been an ass to her. If he could take it all back then he would, there was no doubt about that; he simply had lingering feelings that weren't being aided by the reflection of a younger man looking back at him with contempt.

There was a short sigh before he looked down at the table, placing his hands down on it in an effort to try and think. Never could he forget that night; not because of the good that it brought, but for the bad that it had given.

A few quick, short moments later, Lilly and Scotty carried themselves through the door. Without hesitating, Michael lifted his head to greet them with a rather haphazard smile. Call it nerves if you must, but Michael just couldn't align a single thought as soon as they entered the room. The picture in his head was clear, but he doubted that he'd be able to explain it well. That wasn't going to stop him from trying.

Lilly was the one who took the seat in front of him, whilst Scotty worked around till he was behind Michael. To be honest, it put him on edge just a little bit more. For the longest time there was a silence in the room. It was the kind of silence that Michael wished would just swallow him whole. The whole thing just made the tension feel so much worse than actually was.

Finally, Lilly spoke up. "There are some inconsistencies with your story Michael…" The way the words came out were so piercing. It just felt so harsh and Michael couldn't help but wince as the words came out of her mouth.

"Inconsistencies…?" Maybe by pretending he knew nothing everything would be okay. Sure, the idea struck him as stupid moments after, but in the heat of the moment it seemed to make a lot of sense. "What kind of inconsistencies are we talking about detectives?"

Not even a fraction of a moment later, Scotty pounded his open hand down on the desk, making Michael jump a bit in his seat. They were playing a game with him and he knew it, but there was no way he could have survived by playing this as cool as he wanted to. Keeping things from them would only lead them to believe he did it more and more with each passing moment.

"How about the fact that the last time you said you seen Delores wasn't the last time you seen her…" Scotty finally spoke.

Michael swallowed hard in response. Guilt was painted all over his face and all he could do was look sympathetic towards the efforts of the detectives who had done everything in their power to try and catch the person who did this. Honestly he wasn't helping in any way. "Yeah, I knew that would come out eventually…" he confessed, a humble smile rising to his lips. "Things always have a funny way of coming out eventually."

Scotty shook his head. "You know it's funny. There was a whole other list of suspects before you…" he added, moving from his back to his side, crouching down to meet his face. "Jealousy always shows its nasty head eventually."

Again, Michael swallowed hard.

"You said you loved Delores, and you did" Lilly cut in, forcing Michael to smile a thank you, unaware of what was coming to him next. "You loved her so much in fact that you couldn't let her out of your sites; not even for a single moment." The look on her face mimicked annoyance, anger and other things melded together with a calm façade. "You never wanted her to go out and explore the world on her own."

Emotions began to well up in Michael as he fought the urge to let loose a cry of emotional pain. He had to steel himself in front of these people. They had no idea and them talking to him like this was just one more slap in the face that he could not stand.

"All you wanted was for her to be your compliant fiancé and nothing more" Scotty spoke up. He refused to turn his head to the side to face the detective because right now he was just being too rude and Michael knew if he even looked at him for a moment, he wouldn't resist the urge to crack him in the face. He was thankful when eventually Scotty rose up and towered above him, no longer intruding his peripheral vision. "If it was up to you she would have just stayed at home, looking after your future children, being the doting housewife."

"You just couldn't stand her having dreams of her own" Lilly added. "That's why you were at those shows night after night. You weren't there to see the band, you were there to keep an eye on her."

"And so what if I was!" Michael finally said, speaking up. There was just so much a man could take before he found himself snapping under the pressure and he had passed his own threshold a long time ago. "She was my fiancé, I was looking out for her!"

Scotty smirked a little as he moved to where Lilly was standing. It all seemed so ominous to him at this moment. "You caught her in the act… you caught her with the help." Scotty raised his voice just a little louder. "The last time you seen her was when you caught her macking on some other guy!"

Michael paused for a few moments, thinking his words through carefully. "I was never angry with her for that…"

"That's not what we here…" Lilly interjected.

Shaking his head, he looked down at his rather unsteady hands, trying to will them to be calm for the time being. "Think what you want but that kiss was not the reason I was angry…" Saying that seemed to have grabbed the detectives information. He sighed once and looked back on his own thoughts. "I was angrier at myself for letting her slip away from me. I took it out on her the last time I seen her and she knew why I was so angry."

"So you're telling us you didn't kill Delores?" Scotty asked.

"I'm telling you that I was unbelievably in love with her…" Michael responded in a hushed tone. "There was just no way I could kill her, but back then I knew I had to let the caged bird free…"

* * *

_["I'll Be Alright Without You" by Journey]_

"_MICHAEL!" Delores screamed, trying to pry her hand out of his ever tightening grip._

_Maybe kissing Miles wasn't something she should have done, but could he really blame her for a heat of the moment type of thing. Still, there was something wrong when she knew that a kiss with a near stranger felt so much more familiar than one she shared with a man she thought she was in love with. It really did make her think._

"_MICHAEL, LET GO!" she screamed once more as she struggled to keep up with his quickening pace. If she was lucky all she would have was a slight bruise on her arm, but right now she felt like every nerve was being yanked with each tug of her arm._

_Finally, she found some ground. Quickly, she dug her feet in and pulled her arm out of the grip of the much stronger man. She knew if he wanted to he could just go out and grab it again, but for the longest time Michael just faced forward, not wanting to look back and see the stranger that he had once known._

_Michael had always been the controlling sort. At first she admired the fact that he was willing to take the initiative so often, but it didn't take Delores long to find a darkness that hid under it. Never in his life had he ever raised a hand to her, and she doubted that he ever would. However, the more Delores hung around Michael, the more she felt the spark that was keeping her going become more faded. It wasn't his problem or fault entirely, but it was one of the reasons why Delores needed to be rid of her rather toxic relationship._

_The fainted music in the distance seemed to imply that the show was under way. Technically speaking, Delores should have been down there helping in any way she knew how but there were more pressing matters right now. Like her fiancé._

_Rubbing her arm where it had been grabbed, she looked down for a moment before back up. "What the hell is your problem?" Delores asked, dropping the tone of her voice, but still holding its severity. She sighed when she realised he still had not turned to face her. "Michael… talk to me…" she demanded._

_Slowly but surely Michael had turned to see her, the anger in his eyes being replaced with a rather abstract fear that Delores had never seen him show before. She could have hugged him, but right now it just didn't feel right. She was still reeling from being dragged backstage by the wrist. _

"_You cannot keep doing this!" Delores spoke, turning away as she did so. "You think I don't see you in the crowd of each and every show? Yeah well I do Michael."_

_Closing the gap that existed between them, Michael held out his arms. "I miss you so much Del'." It was sort of a desperate plead, but it struck Delores. Again, she was torn between going to him and walking away. By walking towards him she'd be risking her independence and any life she had, but by not going towards him she was losing her one and only safety net._

_That's when it suddenly became clear to Delores. She seen him more as a protector than someone she could love. Michael Ramirez was the man that she had settled for all those years ago because he felt so safe. He must have known it all along. It was the reason he wanted her to stay away. It was the reason why every decision she made was always met with a well-meaning hesitance. Delores bowed her head, thinking of how she could have ever been so stupid to not see what was essentially right in front of her face._

"_And…." Delores started her voice soft. Walking into the arms of Michael, she embraced him tightly, twisting her head to rest it against his head. "And I don't think I love you Michael." It was a painful truth to admit right now. Before she knew it, there was a stream of tears coming from both of them._

_It was sort of funny. Michael had always prided himself in being a very steeled man, never wanting to let his emotions flourish in front of other people. _

"_I know…" Michael admitted. To him, letting go was the hardest thing that he would ever have to do. The fact that he had this perfect thing and let it slip away was the most excruciatingly painful thing that he knew. "But I'll be alright" he spoke, letting a deceitful smile flash over his face as he pulled her against him tighter. This might have been the last time he ever got to embrace her this way._

_For the longest time they stayed that way. Being close to each other, discussing their past life, laughing at the things that they had shared together, discussing what their futures held without each other in them and the rather general "What now?" that always faced the end of any relationship._

* * *

"And that was the last time I seen her" Michael spoke, clearly on the verge of something. Somehow he managed to restrain himself, but right now he looked so close to the edge. It made Scotty feel sympathetic, losing the girl he knew who never really loved him in the first place.

Maybe there was a lesson to learn there right now. As much as he wanted to share eye contact with Lilly, she averted his gaze every time. Finally Scotty turned towards Michael.

"How do we know you're not trying to pull the wool over our eyes again." he asked.

"Well I guess you don't detective. But I know in my head and my heart that that's what happened that night" he reported. "I don't like to think of it as the night she disappeared, but the night that I lost her."


	8. Chapter 5

As much as things made sense, at the same time they did not make sense.

Every possible lead they had was drying up faster and faster. Right now the detectives were working on the scraps that they had been dealt with. Mostly it involved looking over and seeing whose alibis stuck and who's did not. It might have seemed derivative and pointless, but Stillman just wanted to make sure that they didn't miss anything like the detectives who had worked the job back in the 80's.

However, something stuck with Scotty. Something didn't feel right in his head but he just couldn't place what it was. Maybe it was the fact that he was still thinking about Lilly and their conversation earlier, or maybe it was the fact that he really was onto something.

Whatever it was, he knew that there was only one way to exercise the thought; Implementation.

Ignoring all rationality that existed within his head, once more he found himself rising from his seat and making his way over to Lilly. Right now he wasn't too sure what it was she was working on, but hopefully it wouldn't have been anything of great importance, because he really needed to talk to her, or sit with her, or just do any number of things in her presence.

Who would have thought that something that had been so many years in the making would manage to snake its way up now, just when everything in a case seemed so dire and pointless?

Hearing the footsteps of what she assumed to be an incoming Scotty, Lilly sat up straight and cleared her throat. All day she had been organising her own thoughts in a response to him and what he was doing. She should have said something sooner like Stillman wanted her too, but how could she really say anything like this to a guy she respected and treated as a friend.

"Hey" Scotty finally spoke as he approached her from behind. In his head he already knew that she heard him coming and so he pretty much was expecting an immediate response from her. There was a slight lag however as it took Lilly a few moments to turn in her seat and give her trademark half-smile.

"Hey Scotty" she spoke, fleeting her eyes across his for a moment before looking back at the screen that was in front of her and looking through the autopsy report one more time, hoping to find something remotely interesting. "What's going on?" Lilly asked out of genuine curiosity. As soon as she spoke the words she was aware of how the actually sounded; forced and unrealistic to her attitude and personality. What else could she have said though?

A small guffaw from Scotty seemed to imply that he had caught her own discomfort. "Trying to find something that links someone to this cold job is like a needle in a haystack" Scotty spoke calmly. "The more we exhaust evidence, the less we get in return."

"Not talking about the case Scotty…" Lilly spoke, annoyance playing in between her words. She wanted to hear it from him. She wanted to know what was actually going on here so that she could navigate her way around it the best she knew how. "I'm talking about you. What's going on with you?"

Scotty stood back, almost stunned by the question. At first he wasn't entirely sure what she even meant but after he thought about it for a short moment, he came back with the same conclusion that Lilly had come back with. Maybe right now wasn't the best time to be going about this. He was obviously overstepping some serious boundaries.

"Can't a guy come over to his partner's desk and say hey?" Scotty asked.

Lilly paused and did another half-smile. "Sure you can, but after the thirteenth time in three days it starts to lose its effect, don't you think?" It wasn't that she was pissed off with Scotty or even upset that he had taken the advances in her head but he had to learn there was a difference between casual work related flirtations, which happened on the daily, and whatever the next step to that was.

Scotty loomed in closer, trying to close the distance to keep it between them for the time being. The last thing he really wanted was for everything to be out in the open, less he be openly mocked by his peers. "So what, I should stop?"

Lilly nodded fiercely, hoping that Scotty would just take the hint. "It's how we work Scotty, I get you coffee and you in turn give me whatever name-brand painkillers you have on hand for any headache that I may or may not be sporting…" Lilly replied. "It's a good system we got going."

"Name-brand" Scotty muttered under his breath. All at once, it felt like the wheels in his head were spinning. The things that they had missed before were now coming clear to him. What he needed to do now was work, work until he found the missing piece that fit in with everything else.

Lilly wanted so badly to say something to stop Scotty in his tracks but right now it seemed like his head was elsewhere and so it would have been rather pointless to say anything in the first place.

There was a short while that passed before Scotty finally said "I think I got it." Just over an hour had passed and all the other detectives were busily working away on their own leads that they felt could at least go somewhere. With the words that Scotty had said, everyone seemed more lax, turning in their chairs to see his expression which seemed like he had something to go on.

Just like that, the race was back on and the case was infused with a new life. It might not have been a totally hot lead, but with the right eye behind it, the evidence pretty much spoke for itself.

Pulling over a file, he wandered into the huddled mass that had been collected with the detectives, Stillman stepping out of his office with the knowledge that something was just about to happen. Quickly skimming through the file, Scotty pulled up a picture of the lead guitarist of the band, before pulling out the picture of the guitar that was found draped around the neck of the body.

"'Metal Dragons' were not the merchandising type" Scotty said plainly, as if it made the most sense in the world. Just as Kat was about to say something to Scotty about how this was relevant, Scotty pointed towards the two logo's on both of the guitars in each picture. "They're not the same" Scotty spoke up.

A little confused by this intake of information, Jeffries raised a brow. "Okay, I still don't get it, mind filling me in the rest of the way Scotty?"

Nodding, Scotty realised he might have just gotten a tad ahead of himself. Dropping the two pictures on the desk, he explained "The guitar on the left was the real deal. Notice how the branding on it loops, sort of cursive like." Jeffries nodded as he took a look at the first picture. "The second is the guitar we found with the body. No cursive. No loops. Very sharp lettering."

Stillman was the next sceptic to step in line. "What does this have to do with the case Scotty?"

"Everything" Scotty spoke fairly confidently. "I took a look around and then I realised that 'Metal Dragons' had never merchandised anything. Sure they sold their CD's, but the odds of finding a shirt or a key chain are pretty much impossible unless they're fakes."

It was then that Vera spoke up. "So you're saying that Delores could have been killed because she walked into a bad merchandising deal?" The whole thought was a little ridiculous for him, but he could see from the look on Scotty's face that he was not finished with the evidence just yet.

"Maybe. I don't know." It wasn't the best motive that was sitting on the table, but he was far from through. "Anyway… when we asked Cassidy to give her insight…"

"She was wearing a 'Metal Dragons' shirt." The memory instantly clicked into Jeffries memory. He had found it a little odd for her to be wearing that shirt at that exact moment; sure she had worn it so they could identify her, but it was a tad in bad taste. "It had the sharp lettering on it" Jeffries added.

"Exactly" Scotty added.

Stillman closed in ranks to the gathering. "Hold the phone. Anyone could have made those shirts, what makes you think you know who did."

Scotty nodded again. "Well I took a look through Cassidy Freeman's criminal record and at the front it looks clean…" he started "But you take a look and Miss Freeman has a restraining order put on her by not only Maxine Caldwell, but also James Reinhart, the bassist for 'Metal Dragons' for alleged stalking"

"So two thirds of the band had a problem with Cassidy Freeman. The one third that doesn't also happens to be involved with her" Lilly added.

"The final nail on the coffin though is this." Scotty then turned his screen to show the detectives. From the first view it just looked like a fairly basic book cover, but when you looked closer, you could see the sharpness of the letters share a similar quality with those of the shirt and the guitar. "Written by Cassidy Freeman… cover art by Cassidy Freeman" he ended.

* * *

The fact that she was here had surprised her somewhat. In the stillness of everything, she liked to think that she was innocent and that she had reasons for doing the things that she did. Then again, didn't everyone profess the same thing.

Difference here was that Cassidy Freeman thought of herself as a totally innocent party in this whole mess that had come up. The fact that she remained calm despite her location seemed to echo this fact. The only thing the detectives could say for sure was that she was either a fairly cold old woman or she really did have nothing to hide and seen this all as a massive mistake.

They had all made up their minds as to what she was right now. She was just like any other person who felt like they had a reason to do what they did; it didn't save her soul, it just highlighted the cracks for the entire world to see.

The time had come for Jeffries and Vera to put the grill on Cassidy Freeman and see what happened to show up. Innocent or not, she was hiding something. Sooner or later it would come out, but the detectives would have rather heard the whole story sooner than be kept in suspense for one minute longer.

Standing at the other side of the desk, both detectives looked down on the seated woman who had done her best to remain as relaxed and as composed as possible. Whether or not she actually felt this way was a different situation entirely.

"You had us fooled Cassidy" Kat spoke, folding her arms across her chest. "I mean if you ask me, I thought you were the last person I'd ever see in this box." That was a fairly accurate conclusion she had come to. Out of the suspects they had, Cassidy just seemed like the last person who would have pulled something like this off. "Bravo on keeping your face straight the whole way over by the way, don't think you flinched once."

The elder woman nodded. "Well I'm an innocent person with nothing to hide, so maybe I didn't 'flinch' because I knew that truth would prevail in the end." It was only then that she let her beady eyes fall on Kat, the lack of empathy in them obvious to her from the get go. "Say what you will but you detectives have nothing."

Whilst that might have been true to some extent, they actually did have something in the ways of the evidence that Scotty had gathered, not to mention the restraining orders that had been placed on her. All they needed to do was get her to confess; once they did that, everything would fall into place.

"Oh but we do have you" Kat replied.

Jeffries forced the open file in front of Cassidy, the picture of the skeletal remains of Delores with the guitar sitting on the top. "The guitar found with Delores doesn't have the same style as the band, but…" with that, Kat opened her own file and threw down a few pictures "they do have the same style as some of your ventures."

Kat began, pointing at each picture in succession. "Failed craft store in '86, Same in '92, Same in '04."

Judging from the look of Cassidy's face, she certainly did not appreciate being reminded of some of her past ventures. All in all, she didn't look angry enough to fly across the table, but she could tell that she was bubbling just under the surface.

"Dried blood on the guitar tells us that she had it around her neck at the time she bled out" Jeffries scattered on. "Which means, that right now, you were the last person to see Delores Lafferty alive."

There was a slight snort from Cassidy as she looked between both of the detectives. "Yes, I did brand the guitar which, yes, at the time was a cheap knockoff, but I could have given that to Delores at any point in time over any number of days. Just because you say she had it on her when she died doesn't mean that I was there."

"Except that's not possible" Kat added. "Delores didn't know how to play so what use would she have for it?"

Jeffries nodded. "Makes a lot of sense to me actually, get rid of the body, get rid of the knock off in one foul swoop"

Anger was rising in her and both Jeffries and Kat could see it just below the surface. "What exactly are you trying to imply here detectives?" The look on her face was practically priceless, like she was about to crack like fine china under the force of something heavier.

"That you knocked her clean out of the picture with the guitar you branded." Jeffries replied.

Of course they all knew this was not the case. Had the guitar been the weapon then there would be more blood on the guitar and some sign to say that it had been swung full force at a person's head.

"I did no such thing" Cassidy feigned innocence.

For a moment there was silence. Then Kat spoke up again. "What was it that got to you in the end? Was it the fact that you could have lost contact with your future husband or was it the fact that one of your little ventures had failed for the last time"

"For all we know there could be a whole lot more than what we're seeing he-"

"STOP!" Cassidy roared, rising from her seat with such speed that it toppled over behind her. The way she looked now was so much different from the calm woman they had initially met. What replaced her was someone who was envious and full of rage, willing to do whatever was necessary to stay ahead. "Leave my husband out of this!"

They had found their trigger switch, and now it was only fair that they try to use it against her. "What makes me wonder is that the other members of the band filed restraining orders against you and he didn't. Think he took any of the credit in the false merchandising game?"

Before he even had a chance to respond Cassidy spoke up. "She was stubborn." The words themselves meant hardly anything. "She was a stubborn, silly, little girl who refused to let anything go." There was a short pause. "If I tell you everything, you leave my husband's name out of it…" The hero worship seemed to fuel her every action by this point. Even if he was a deceased man, Cassidy still idolized him more than she should have.

Kat and Jeffries nodded.

* * *

_It had certainly been a long night for Delores. Above the whole "last gig in Philly for a while", there was the whole thing regarding Miles and then the whole break-up thing that she had with Michael. The night had went from height to height, making her dizzier each time and quite honestly, she wasn't sure she could take much more._

_Thank god that everything had actually died down due to the rain. The storm had come in thick and fast during the last few minutes of the concert. Of course that wasn't enough to stop these guys. "The Show Must Go On" and all that nonsense. It made sense to those guys but it never truly made any sense for her._

_However, in spite of all of that, Delores still felt somewhat responsible for not being with the guys tonight. She was supposed to be working and instead she got roped into a whole big thing and then that whole big thing escalated exponentially as time went on. Clearly the only thing she could really do now was to help tidy up all the bits and pieces._

_All the other crew members had headed off, probably trying to get away from the heavy downpour that fell everywhere. There were some minor splashes on the stage but it really wasn't anything that wasn't manageable._

_Most of the real work had been done already, just to ensure that no one came along and just started to steal pieces of equipment, or to shield them from the ongoing downpour. It might not have felt like much, but to Delores, doing meaningless grunt work like this was one of the few highlights of the night._

_From the corner of her eye she saw something. It was enough to force her to turn instinctively, almost knocking herself back on her ass in the process. The whole thing would have looked comical if anybody was actually looking, but as Delores got to her feet she breathed a sigh of relief knowing that it was just Cassidy. Harmless little Cassidy Freeman. Was she a bit creepy, yeah, Delores would be the first to say that, but the fact that she kept out of the way just made her appreciation less stalker-y and for fan-y._

"_Christ Cass, ya nearly gave me a heart attack" she spoke, laughing all the way. Maybe it had something to do with the transpired events, but she couldn't help but to be a little bit jumpy right now. "Ya really should let people know your there."_

_Now that she had stepped into the light more, she could see that Cassidy was walking towards her with a guitar slung around her neck. The whole thing just struck Delores as odd and forced laughter out of her as she tried not to mock her at this moment in time. The guitar itself nearly hung off of her, the long strap not helping with the small frame that Cassidy possessed._

"_Cass, I think that might be a bit too big for you, dontcha think?" Delores added._

_Cassidy gave one of her signature smiles before raising the guitar in the air and bowing out of the strap. "That's why it's for you." The way that she had said it so matter of factly seemed off putting to Delores. What the hell was she going to do with a guitar anyway? It wasn't like she could play._

"_Don't think that'd be the best idea if I'm honest…" Delores spoke, raising her arms in defence as she continued to tidy up._

"_Scrivens wanted you to have it" Cassidy spoke. Instantly Delores felt a little bit sick in her mouth. "He's actually giving one of these to all the roadies. Sort of a thank you gift from him and Freddie."_

_All of a sudden Delores felt a little sicker. She had never held a proper conversation with the lead guitarist, mainly because every time she tried to talk to him, he would slur out another unintelligible response. She could tell that Scrivens was the brain power behind this whole idea. It never even occurred to her that Cassidy could pull off something like this._

"_Tell him he can keep his 'hush-money' guitar" Delores spoke, a little bit of anger seeping through as she turned away and started to pack up the drum kit._

_The mood in the room changed with that single comment. Before her eyes, Cassidy changed drastically. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"_

_Delores snapped back round to face Cassidy who looked totally peeved off right now. If she could say anything to calm her down she would, but not at the expense of not being truthful to who she was; that had already cost her far too much tonight. "What I mean is I know what I'm going to do now… I know what I need to do."_

"_And that's what exactly?" Cassidy questioned, the hostility in her voice bubbling up a little more with each passing second._

"_I need to tell someone what he's being doing. I need to tell someone. Anyone. All I want is for it to stop." In her mind Scrivens had gotten away with far too much and quite frankly she wanted out. She didn't want to be a part of this if it meant trading in her conscience for a cool leather jacket. "The cops have to know."_

_Quickly, Cassidy felt her whole world slipping away from her. Piece by piece was falling to the ground. Delores was gonna tell about the whole merchandising thing. She'd found out. How could she let that happen. If she told the cops then things would go to hell. There went another venture. Her future with someone she cared about. Idolized._

_No. She couldn't let that happen._

_The rage in her only grew with each passing second as she picked up a nearby stool. All she needed to do was send a message to her. Make her see that she loved him. "YOU CAN'T TELL!"_

_With all the force she could muster, she took her first swing, hitting Delores square on the side of the head. Without any resistance, she took to the floor almost immediately, unconscious for the time being. It looked like it was all over, but Cassidy knew in her head that she couldn't let her get back up._

"_YOU CAN'T TELL!"_

_Another swing, blood sprayed everywhere, some even splattering on the discarded guitar._

"_YOU CAN'T TELL!"_

* * *

["Faithfully" by Journey]

Walking through the bullpen with the detectives close behind and cuffs on her back, Cassidy couldn't help but to think at how far she had actually fallen to get here. The detectives who were absent from the box gathered in time to see Cassidy as she was lead out of the department, readied for her life on the inside.

After Cassidy had passed, both Scotty and Lilly shared a look, lasting only a moment before they both turned away. These issues were unresolved.

Back at the bar where Maxine Caldwell worked, she tried her best to fake a smile, knowing that the mystery that had once plagued her band was now done and dusted. She remained apathetic as she poured another drink for a gentleman who appeared to have had one too many. Licking her lips was all she could do to sedate the demon that existed within her.

At the store where he worked alongside his son, Miles Reardon tried his best to put on a brave face as he glared up at the television set in the corner, showing that the case of the woman he had once cared for was now solved. Nodding softly, he turned his attention back to the front, ready once more to greet a new customer who had come in with their child.

Down in the evidence room, Vera walked with pride as he held a new box under his arm, ready to mark it as a closed cold job instead of a missing person's case. Hoisting the box on top of another, Vera then took out a marker, writing down _Lafferty, D. _before lightly tapping the box twice with his fist

Out on his porch, Michael Ramirez looks through an old photo album, knowing full well that the events that transpired in them would never again come to pass. As he flicks through them, he stops at the last page and lets the back of his hand gently caress the final picture he and Delores had taken together. Looking up from his own position, he seen a shadow of the woman he loved, standing across the street from him, wearing a sympathetic smile. Rising to his feet, the shadow disappeared as a car rolled past, leaving Michael with a weak smile himself.


End file.
